Kingdom Hearts: Darkborn
by Written legacy
Summary: As Sora and Riku adjust to normal life, a new arrival to Destiny Island with a dark secret sets in motion another adventure. With Sora, Riku, Kairi, and a mysterious boy named Cole, they will travel to new and old worlds, meet new and old enemies and allies alike. And as they get further into their journey they will have to figure out how it all ties into their first adventure.
1. Return

Kingdom Hearts: Dark Born

 _A/N: Hey guys this story is going to start right after KH2 ending, I plan to incorporate KHDDD, and whenever KH3 finally comes out (god forbid they delay it any longer) into the story as well._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy._

…

Sora had faced a lot of dangerous enemies in his time traveling the worlds. Some had been monstrous, others overpowered, and all of them had been dangerous. But as he walked down the familiar road on the main island towards the house he grew up in, he started to think about the enemy he was about to face. The combined wrath of his parents.

"Hey Kairi, How much trouble did you get in when you came back?" he asked warily looking between her and his home.

It hadn't even been an hour since Sora and Riku had returned to Destiny Islands, but already there was this fear that their parents would kick butts so far that they'd have to find their way back to the island.

"I didn't get in any trouble." She said snickering a little, "when our home was returned, everybody started to wake up and nobody ever knew I was gone. But I don't think I can get away with that now."

"And what do you think they'll do when we get back?"

"Who knows." Riku said walking up to the two, "But I'm just glad we'll actually be together again, and they'll probably be glad to see us as well."

"Yeah . . . .well we're here." Sora said as he stood in front of the cobbled pathway to his front door. The small one story house was tan like most in the neighborhood, and in the front laid a carefully planned garden with a mixture of different types of flowers that his mother liked to grow. By the garage there leaned the fishing pole that his father used and next to it his own along with the tackle box and extra canoe they kept. And in the open front window some white curtains could be seen drifting slightly drifting with the breeze.

"How about you guys hang back for a bit." Sora said turning back to his friends, "It may be better for you to keep your distance for a little while."

"Of course." Kairi said taking a step back with the others. "We'll be by the garage."

' _Well here goes nothing'_ Sora thought to himself as he walked up to the door ' _or everything'_

Hesitantly ringing the doorbell, he waited for the familiar footsteps of either of his parents walking to the door to open it and see their son. Seconds ticked by, then minutes, and finally after ringing the doorbell a second time, heavy footsteps could be heard trudging to the door. Sora was greeted by the sight of his father as he opened the door, showing a slightly different man than what Sora remembered.

In front of him stood a large man with a strong build from days spent fishing and other hard labor and tanned skin from being out in the sun all day. Instead of the short trimmed hair that he was used to seeing, his father now let his brown hair grow long, almost hiding his sea green eyes, and his usually trimmed beard now as wild as his hair. He still wore the clothes that he had worked the day in and still smelled strongly of fish and the sea. They both looked at each for a long time before Sora finally had courage to say anything.

"Hey pops." He said shyly.

His father continued to stare at him, his eyes widening as he finally started to process who was in front of him. Sora didn't know what to do next, but apparently his father did, as he wound up his fist and hit him so hard in the chest that he flew out onto the road.

"SORA!" his friends called as they rushed towards him, only stopping when he waved at them.

"Two years." His father said as he walked towards them, "Two bloody years you've been gone! You up and leave one night, not even leaving a note saying goodbye, and leave me and your poor mother to worry sick about where you and your best friend are." Gruffly picking Sora up by his collar, he hauled him up till he was eye level with him, staring into the eyes of his extremely angry father. "And now you're back!"

Sora closed his eyes and braced himself as his father raised his other hand into a fist and was prepared to swing, but after a few seconds he felt himself being let back down. Opening his eyes he saw tears in the corner of his father's eyes as he looked upon him.

"My boy is back." He said slowly wrapping him in a hug. Sora had never seen his father cry, and it brought tears to his own eyes as he hugged his father back, missing what he had left behind. When they broke, he had a smile on his face as he looked him up and down, "You got tall boy."

"You got hairy." Sora retorted, and they both shared a laugh. Looking back, they saw their friends smiling as they joined them.

"You are in so much trouble when Christa gets out here." His father said as he wiped the tears away from his face.

"Who's in trouble?" a voice said from the doorway.

Exiting from his house, Sora saw his mother walk slowly up the path. She looked almost the same as the day she last saw him, shoulder length chocolate brown hair surrounding a pretty face with deep blue eyes. Her slight build made her look small in comparison to his father, but Sora knew better than to judge his mother as weak just by her looks. As she walked up to the group and caught sight of him, she stopped dead in her tracks. She came up to him reaching her hand up and touching his face as if trying to see if he was real.

"You're really here." She choked out.

"Yeah, I'm home." He said, and then she pulled him into a hug, as she cried with relief into his shoulder.

It was a tender moment…for about 5 seconds, and then Sora started to feel her squeeze him in a death grip.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" she yelled.

"I can explain!" Sora gasped out as the air in his lungs left and he felt himself slipping.

"You had better." She said finally letting him go. Spinning around to the rest of the group, she eyed Riku and Kairi who found the ground incredibly interesting. "You all have a lot of explaining to do, so you might as well come inside and get comfortable while we call your parents."

…

Inside the house, everyone was crowded into the basement where they all tried to find a place to get comfortable, with Kairi sitting in between Sora and Riku on the couch that faced their parents standing in front of them.

When Riku's parents had first arrived they had shared a less violent reunion then Sora had, Riku's parents being a much quieter couple. Riku got much of his build from his father, who like Sora's, worked fishing and working the docks, but unlike Riku he had Dark hair cut short. His mother was a tall women who shared the same hair as Riku and the same intense sea green eyes as hers.

And then there was Kairi's father, the mayor. He was a short older man in his 50s, with a short cropped hair slowly greying like the mustache on his face. For the mayor of islands, he was a rather relaxed man, and was dressed so as well in a flowery tropical shirt, and tan shorts and sandals. When Kairi had first appeared, the mayor had took it upon himself to raise her and had done alone, his spouse having died years before. As mayor he had run the Destiny isles fair and true, not overstepping his powers as mayor, and because of this he had run unopposed for years.

And here they stood before them, their eyes filled with a mixture of anger and relief at the return of their children.

"Before we start, why don't you introduce us to your friends." The mayor started stepping forward.

"Right, well that's Donald and Goofy, and then there King Mickey." Sora said addressing each of the individuals. "Oh yeah, and this is Jiminy." Sora added as the cricket hopped out of his jacket.

"Oh ho, so we stand in the presence of a king." The mayor said taking a bow, "If I had known we were in such important company I would have dressed better, but under the circumstances I hope you don't mind the meager appearances."

"No, I don't mind how you dress." The King said sheepishly as he stepped forward and shook each of the adults' hands. "But as Sora said, my name is Mickey, Donald is my court magician, Goofy is the captain of the Royal Knights, and Jiminy is the transcriber of their journey. And each of us had a role in what they've been doing the past 2 years."

"And what might that be exactly?" Riku's father asked.

"Well," Riku started, "for us, it started when I got the idea that we should build a raft."

…

". . . and after we defeated Ansem, Riku and the king helped us close the door, and were trapped in the realm of Darkness." Sora finished.

It had been an hour since they had started the telling of their first journey, and so far their parents sat their enthralled in it without interruption. Their eyes had perked at some major points of their story and Sora's mom almost choked when she heard of his stint with freeing Kairi's heart.

"And once they did, I ended up returning with our world." Kairi said. "That's why when the world returned, no one ever knew that I was gone. You all thought that Sora and Riku had run away and I knew that there was no way I could tell you, not without proof at least."

"Can't blame ya for that." Sora's father stated shaking his head. "I don't think we can even blame the boys either, you were all just caught in what was inevitably going to happen to all of us, at least you were. . . Somewhat safe."

"And at least Kairi's heart was in good hands." The Mayor said with a smirk as the two blushed at the comment. "I'm grateful for what you did, and Riku, though you were misled onto the wrong path, your wish was to save Kairi and for that I'm grateful to you as well."

"Thank you sir" they said in unison.

"Um and if you wouldn't mind could we possibly see these _"Keyblades_ " you've been talking about." Riku's mother politely asked.

"Sure." Sora said. Raising his hand up, the Kingdom key appeared in a flash of light and settled in his hand. There was a chorus of wows from across from him as their parents came forward to get a closer look.

"Remarkable, it appeared out of thin air just like that." The mayor said touching the end of it carefully. "But that isn't the end of your story is it?"

"No, but we're a little fuzzy on what happened after Kairi left." Goofy chimed in.

"I can probably answer that." Riku said.

…

"Huh, so that's what happened." Jiminy said as he finished writing down everything that Riku had said, "well that completes my journal again."

"So that's why we couldn't remember you." Sora's mother said, "We knew something had felt so wrong during that time, but we couldn't figure out what."

"So we slept for a year and when we woke up, the only thing that could tell us anything was the words "Thank Namine" in Jiminy's journal...

…

The light outside had fallen dark when the group finished telling about their recent journey, and now they were at the point where they were now. Everyone at this point was exhausted, besides the fact that just hours ago they finished their fight, but also telling their story had tired them mentally. Kairi was slowly nodding off, and Sora and Riku weren't far off; Donald and Goofy had completely given up themselves and were sleeping in the corner.

"Well everyone that was quite the story, but it seems that you all should rest for now, we can probably discuss this in the morning." The Mayor said with a yawn.

And as the parents got up and walked to the stairs, Sora tried to follow himself, but found that Kairi had fallen asleep against his shoulder. He was too tired himself to be embarrassed and instead carefully got up and laid her on the full length of the couch.

"She'll be fine if she stays here lads." The mayor said when he noticed his daughter, "I have faith she'll be safe here with you.

"Of course sir." Riku said grabbing a blanket and tossing it on Goofy and Donald, and then took one for the king, and another for himself. Sora grabbed a blanket and carefully laid it on the snoozing Kairi and then grabbed himself a bean bag and laid out on the floor using it as his pillow. And as the lights flicked off, he promptly fell asleep.


	2. Tired and Confused

A/N: When I first started writing this, I knew that there were going to be some "Grammatical errors". Trust me I'm no great writer, but after playing the games my mind just started rolling on what could happen next in Sora's journey and I eventually had to do something. So just roll with me in this, and if you happen to cringe a couple times please bear with me I'm trying.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Kingdom hearts franchise, the Disney franchise, or RvB.

…

". . . Sora."

". . . . ."

"Sora."

"Hmm. . . ."

"C'mon Sora I need to talk to you."

"Just five more minutes."

"Wake Up!"

"What!?"

Sitting up, Sora found that he didn't know where he was. Everywhere he looked, all he could see was darkness, and from up above was a single light shining down upon him. _I know this place_ he thought to himself, then looking down his suspicions were confirmed. He was on a bright colorful platform, and on it he saw a large image of himself in his current clothes facing the left, and to his back was a large image of Roxas facing to the right and surrounding them were colored pictures of all his friends. And standing in the middle of it was Roxas.

"Man you sure can sleep," He said to Sora joking as he walked over to him.

"Well you might understand since I did just fight your old boss," Sora said standing up.

"Thanks for that by the way, it was about time someone took him down from that high and mighty throne of his."

"There wasn't much of choice since it is my job."

"Well you beat him and that's what matters."

"Yeah, So why are we here?" Sora asked as he walked the platform viewing himself and his friends.

"Why are any of us here? I mean are we the product of some cosmic coincidence or is there really a God watching everything with a plan for us, I don't know."

Sora looked to him confused, ". . . What? I mean why are we here on this platform?"

"OH! Yeah, I needed to talk to you about something," Roxas sheepishly said turning around.

"Is it that stuff about God?"

"No."

". . . Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay than where are we?" Sora asked gesturing to the surroundings.

"C'mon you should know better than anyone where this is." Roxas said turning back to him and pointing at his chest. "It's your heart."

"My heart . . . Is this where you stay at?"

"No, so far I've been getting front row tickets to what's happened up to this point in your journey, and I have to say it was a real touching moment when you and Kairi hugged, I almost teared up." He said with a smirk. "You really seemed to enjoy yourself."

"Hey!" Sora yelled trying to cover up the fact he was blushing. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw the portrait of Kairi flash pink and then settle back to a blue.

"You can try and hide your feelings, but your heart doesn't lie." Roxas said laughing, "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." He said walking to the edge of the platform and sitting down

"What did you want to talk about?" Sora asked as he sat with him.

"I was wondering if I could possibly meet with your family?" Roxas asked turning to him.

"You want to what!?"

"You know what I said, I want to meet your family."

"Can you do that?"

"Well I did it before you fought Xemnas, I think I can do it again," He said with a sigh, "and besides, I may be one with you and all, but I do need to get out every now and then."

Thinking back to when they were telling their story, Sora had recalled not going into deep detail into his, or Kairi's, Nobody. They had all silently agreed to keep as much as they could to themselves for the time being, so bringing it up was eventually going to happen. How their parents would take it was another thing entirely.

"Yeah sure then man," Sora said, then snickered to himself, "I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing if Namine showed up either."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh c'mon on now," Sora said with a laugh and then in his best impression of Namine, _"Oh Roxas we can be together again."_

"You butchered that!" Roxas said turning red. "What about you Casanova, didn't Kairi say something along the lines of _"We'll be together every day"_ and all you said was _"uh . . . yeah"."_

"Well what would you have said?" Sora said trying to rebuttal.

"I don't know, something manlier that what you said."

"Yeah whatever," Sora said with a laugh. "But seriously, I do need to thank Namine."

"Yeah so do I . . . say do you get the feeling we're not alone in here?" Roxas asked turning around.

"Kind of, but I can't really tell can you?"

"A little, ever since I got here it's as if there have been . . . others with me. There seems to be three, one I can't really sense that well, another feels familiar, but the last feels kind of dark."

"Who knows, with all the crazy stuff that's happened to us there might be some stuff just wandering around here." Sora said with a shrug.

"Shouldn't you be a little more worried about this?"

"I should, but if it hasn't done anything to us so far, why would that change now."

"Yeah you're probably right."

"Well," Sora said with a yawn, "I ought to be going back to sleep, I'm exhausted and really do need to get some shut eye."

"Alright then, just remember that I'll come out tomorrow."

"Yeah I'll remember . . . So how do we leave. Last time I was here I think I got swallowed up by darkness."

"Yeah well I got crushed."

"What!?"

"Nothing, just close your eyes and I think you should be back"

"Thanks Roxas." Sora said closing his eyes.

"You're welcome Sora."

…

Sora breathed in the familiar air as he opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness. But this time he knew where he was as he heard the soft breathing of the others in the room and the soft light that trickled down from upstairs. Listening more intently, he heard the whisper of voices coming from upstairs. Getting up slowly, he carefully walked to the stairs, walking quietly around the king who lay snoozing nearby and went up. The voices grew slightly louder as he got to the top and when he peeked out the door at the top, he saw that the voices came from their parents who were sitting around the dining table drinking.

"Kara I didn't know you had good wine like this lying around," He heard Riku's mother say to his own.

"Well I had it hiding for a special occasion, and I have to say," His mother paused as she took a sip, "this is a special occasion."

"Our kids are back, and they've grown up."

He saw his father lean into the conversation, "You said it, but I don't think that any of us could have thought that they were doing what they were. I mean there's no way they can make that story up, and not with the proof they have."

Riku's father shook his head as he joined, "I can't even imagine what they were feeling during this whole charade. It definitely nothing we experienced when we were their age, right Sam?"

"Our teenage years were made up of work and chasing girls," His father laughed.

"You could say they were doing the same thing, only at a much larger scale," The mayor interjected.

"A huge scale," Riku's mother said as she poured everyone another glass, "Do you think this journey of theirs will . . . affect them at all?"

"I guess it depends, they've definitely got some emotional scars from this," Sora's mom said sadly.

"But at least they had people to guide them, though they do seem a bit strange, they have good intentions," Riku's father said.

"Well hopefully they guided their brains as well, because it's going to be a pain when they go back to school." Sora's father chuckled.

"When would they go back, and how would they?" Riku's mom questioned, "Besides Kairi being missing for a couple weeks with no explanation, how would we even go about explaining Riku and Sora, they've been go almost two years! And I don't think we should be going around and explaining their story to everyone who wants to know, it really isn't our place to tell their story. "

"Well then what do we say?"

"No idea, not yet anyway," Sora's mom thought out loud.

"Well, in any case our children are home and safe," The mayor said raising his glass and everyone around the table toasted with him, "here, here."

After they drank, they all just sat for a bit, seeming quietly content with just knowing that their children were actually with them.

"Should we have let Kairi stay down there with them," Sora's mom asked the mayor, "I mean, I know that our boys would never do anything to her, but still . . ."

"No worries," The mayor said with a laugh, "I have faith in the lads."

Sora swore that when the mayor said that, he had been looking at where Sora was hiding, almost as if he knew that he was there. Quietly shutting the door, Sora went back downstairs and lay back down where he had been sleeping before, pondering in his head what he'd heard from Roxas and his parents.

 _What am I going to do now?_ Sora thought with a sigh and slowly drifted back off to sleep.

…

Sunlight filtered in through the small window downstairs when Sora finally woke up and when he looked at the clock he was shocked to see it was 2 in the afternoon. Nearby everyone else still snoozed away blissfully unaware of what time it was, and it was a well-deserved sleep after the battle they had just had. Stretching his arms, he thought back to when he had woke up from his yearly slumber and how well rested he felt then and how nice it'd be to sleep like that again.

"Good morning," He heard from the couch. Turning, he saw Kairi sitting up with a yawn and a crazy mane of red hair that stuck out in several places.

"More like good afternoon," He said greeting her with a smile.

She looked at him sleepily, "What?"

"It is currently 2:16 P.M. and we're the only ones awake at the moment."

"You're kidding," she huffed blowing a bit of hair out of her face.

"Nope, and now I get to say good morning you lazy bum."

"That doesn't sound right coming from you."

"I know, it actually felt weird saying it."

"Yeah well I need to get fixed up and eat, I'm starving."

"You and me both."

It was at this moment that Sora's mother walked down the steps and peeked in to see if they were awake. With her she carried a bundle of clothes and towels.

"Oh good you're finally awake," she said tiptoeing towards them, "Kairi if you'd like you can use our shower and I have some spare clothes that can fit you, or I can take you home if you'd prefer."

"Here's fine Ma'am."

"Oh I'm always telling you just call me Kara," his mom fussed as she handed Kairi the clothes and towel, "and you Sora can get started on breakfast till she gets out. You might also want to wake up the rest of your friends as well and tell them it's ready."

"Thanks Mum."

"Your welcome dear." She said softly leaning forward and giving him a kiss on the head like she did when he was a kid.

Getting up he started shaking people up starting with his traveling companions and then waiting till he got to Riku, wary of actually doing it. Who knew how he might react to being shook awake. Being as careful as he could he gently tapped Riku on the shoulder and the feared reaction was immediate. Way to Dawn appeared in his hand and the blade flew toward his face as Riku swung it at him, only to be stopped short by King Mickeys Keyblade a few inches from Sora's face.

" hehehe, good morning to you to." Sora warily said to the wide eyed Riku.

Riku shook his head trying get rid of the mixture of sleepiness, fear, and adrenaline from his head and sent his blade away.

"Good morning to you to you to." He said dragging his hands across his face.

"That was a little close." King Mickey said sending his blade away as well.

"I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is ready." Sora said helping his friend up.

"Oh then why didn't you say so?" Riku said jokingly.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"I thought it was, but whatever lets head up and get some food."

Walking up, they were greeted with the wonderful smell of bacon, and the sweet scent of syrup on pancakes. Sitting around the table, his parents were passing the food around to Donald and Goofy who had piled their plates high, and were giving their praises to the chef.

"You're an amazing cook Sora's mom." Donald said with a full bill.

"Please just call me Kara." His mom said as she went back to the kitchen.

"And while we're at it why don't you just call me Sam instead of Sora's father," His father said with a smile as he caught sight of his son walking up the stairs, "Well look what the cat dragged up, you just missed what it dragged up earlier and I have to say it looked ragged."

"Girls have a lot of work to do to make themselves look good," His mother yelled from the Kitchen," or would you prefer I didn't do anything?"

"I love you too hun." His father said with a laugh.

"So where are the mayor and my parents at?" Riku asked sitting down.

"They went to get cleaned up and rest a little since it didn't seem like you were going to wake up anytime soon," his father said hand them plates, "they should be back soon though, but enough of that you boys must be starving eat up!"

There was no argument from them, as they piled their plates up with food and started to devour their late brunch. Sora almost cried with joy when he tasted his mother's cooking again, there was nothing like home cooking to make the heart and stomach the happiest. In the middle of their meal Kairi came down and joined them, her hair still slightly damp and now dressed in shorts and a tank top. She looked really good in it. As they all chowed down, Sora's parents kept looking at him as if not believing that he had actually returned to them, and that some other boy that looked like him was eating their food. But whenever he looked to them, they smiled brightly and he smiled back, happy that they were happy. Just as they were cleaning up, the front door opened and Riku's parents and the Mayor returned, all looking cheery and carrying grocery bags and a backpack.

"We thought you might want a change of clothes," his father said handing Riku the backpack and then with a sniff he backed up a little, "and probably a shower."

"You both need a shower," Goofy said waving holding his nose.

"Hey!" they boys exclaimed only to receive laughter from everyone else.

"What about you, Donald and Goofy your Majesty?" the Mayor asked turning to Mickey.

"We'll get cleaned up on the Gummi ship, you don't have to worry about us." The King replied kindly.

"But wait your Majesty, how'd the Gummi ship get here," Sora asked, "I thought we left it in Twilight town when we were finding a way to the Nobody world?"

"I got in contact with Chip and Dale, and they turned on the auto-pilot and sent it here."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned to each other with a strange look and then yelled, "WHAT!?"

"What is it!?" the king asked scared.

"We spent days flying back and forth between worlds," Donald said

"And we took turns on who got the graveyard shift when flying at night," Goofy said.

"And all along there was an Auto-pilot built into the ship?" Sora asked.

"Yep." Was all the king said.

The trio's head hung in unison as they pouted, and wept for all the hours they had wasted away driving when there was an auto-pilot. Sure they had to clear the roads between roads up, but after that they were pretty much in the clear beside the few ships here and there, but to think of all the rest they could have gotten.

"Well it's too late to cry about it now." The Mayor said patting Sora on the shoulder, "but back to the main topic, you boys do stink a bit, why don't you get cleaned up and then we can talk some more."

"About what?" Sora and Riku asked.

"About anything else in your journey, and your future."

 **A/N: sorry about the wait, I got a little sidetracked and busy, but I'm back on board and I don't plan to release them this slow if I can help it. And I just had to sneak in that Red Vs Blue line, I happened to watch that episode the other day and that line always makes me laugh. If you don't know what it is, check it out on YouTube, it's really funny.**


	3. Hearts

A/N: Well here's another chapter, if any of you guys see any issues with my grammar go ahead and give me a shout. I can take any criticism you guys throw at me, and I'll apply what I learn to future chapters. Also I apologize for how late this came out, I had to help people move and my classes started for the summer so I got a little caught up.

…

Sora stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed as trapped steam escaped into the cool room, his hair still slightly damp making his spiky hair hang a bit. Since most of Sora's old clothes didn't fit him anymore, his father had lent him some of his clothes since his were being cleaned, though they were a bit big on him. Now wearing a white shirt and a black sweatpants that bagged slightly, he walked out into the hallway to let a waiting Riku have his turn.

"You save me any hot water?" Riku asked waving away some of the steam.

"Nope." Sora answered as he strolled down the hall.

"Thanks a lot."

"Anytime."

Coming out of the hall, he saw all the parents busy walking around doing something or another and seemed to be preparing for something so he decided to stay out of their way. Walking into the living room, he sat with Donald and Goofy on the couch and put his arms around his friends.

"Did you ever think we'd get to this point in our journey?"

"Well Gawrsh, wasn't this what we were fighting for?" Goofy asked turning to Sora.

"Yeah, but it turned into a journey trying to find our friends. We would just have to worry about returning home afterwards, so it never really occurred to me how much home would mean until we actually got here."

"Well home IS where the heart is," Donald said.

"I wouldn't say that," Kairi said as she joined them.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked as he scooted Donald over so she could have a spot.

"Well, home is more where the heart starts at because your first real love is your home and family. But as you venture out into the world, you begin to realize how much other places, people, and things matter to you," she said sitting down, and then with a laugh," or in this case when you venture out into the worlds. But you never forget your first love, which is your home."

"So where does the heart lie?"

"It lies with those you care about." She said putting a hand on Sora's chest, "Just as my heart lies with you, your heart lies with me. Literally in some cases. Always remember, that no matter where you go, I'll always be with you."

And for a moment it felt as if it was just the two of them, that only they were in the world itself. As Sora felt his heart beat loudly in his chest, he looked deeply into Kairi's eyes and saw the pure emotion that laid deep within her, and the feelings that flooded through them both as they sat together. And her lips . . .

 _Go for it!_ Roxas whispered to him

And just like that it was interrupted. They both felt a jolt as they realized that they were just sitting there staring into each other's eyes and both of them turned away blushing. There was a humph from Donald sitting next to him, and Goofy had covered his face, and inside his head Sora could hear Roxas complaining.

 _You had your chance man!_

 _You ruined the moment, and plus how weird would it have been to have kissed in between Donald and Goofy!_

 _Hey they were supporting you just like I was._

 _Yeah except they were quiet, unlike you._

 _Yeah well. . ._

Ironically from Kairi's perspective there was a completely mirrored conversation.

 _That was your chance_

 _Namine that was not the right time_

 _I was just trying to give you a push_

 _Yeah, but how weird would it have been to have kissed between Donald and Goofy, not a very romantic setting is it_

 _They were quiet_

 _Unlike some people_

 _Hey_

Back to Sora

 _You just want to get in touch with Namine on a more personal level_

 _Do not_

 _Oh really_

 _Yeah really_

"Are you two okay, you're being really quiet?" Goofy asked concerned.

"OH! No we're fine, we just umm," Kairi tried explaining.

"Oh brother, if only Daisy could see this," Donald said sliding off the couch, "she wouldn't make me watch those chick flicks."

"I see what ya mean ah hyuck!" Goofy said leaving as well.

"Hey." Both Sora and Kairi yelled at them.

"It's for horses." Sora's father said as he walked by.

"What?" they both said in unison.

"It's a dad joke." His mother said following his father.

They both turned back around shaking their heads as they tried to forget the cheesy one-liner.

"Well I can't say I didn't miss dad jokes." Sora said thinking back to before.

"It can be the dumbest thing ever, and it still makes you laugh." Kairi agreed.

"Yeah, I guess so."

…

Riku finally joined them when he had showered and changed, now dressed in white shirt and shorts. He pushed Sora off the couch as he hopped over, and the two of them wrestled as he got his pay back for Sora using all the hot water making Sora tap out as he got him in a leg lock.

"I give, I give!" Sora said banging the floor.

"What are the magic words?" Riku taunted.

"Please stop!"

"Not that." He said gripping tighter.

"What!?"

"You know what they are."

"No, I won't say it!"

"Really." The grip tightened.

"Fine, ok you win!"

"That's more like it." Riku said letting go.

"Oh mercy!" Sora said breathing hard.

"Boys." Kairi said shaking her head.

Sitting up they all had a laugh, and enjoyed the feeling of being free. They sat there content, but as the minutes passed Kairi suggested that they go for a walk to the beach and get some fresh air. Their parents were in the backyard grilling and talking, and though they weren't too excited about it, they agreed that as long as they stayed out of sight that they should be fine.

"Don't need people asking too many questions right now." Riku's father explained.

And so they set off out the door, still dressed in their lazy clothes, and headed towards the beach. The neighborhood was quiet as they walked down the sidewalk, most of the kids were probably hanging out, or doing afterschool activities and wouldn't show up till later so they had some time. When they finally reached the beach, they breathed in the warm sea and felt the breeze that swayed the palm trees tiredly back and forth. The constant crashing of the waves against the shore, and the call of birds in the air filled their ears and their island in the distance, it brought memories of them growing up in all this. Why they had wanted to leave all this before seemed to make no sense as it felt perfect to them in this moment.

"I have to say I definitely missed this." Sora said closing his eyes and breathing in the air.

"You and me both." Riku agreed.

That's when they heard footsteps behind them, and a small gasp. Spinning around, they found Selphie standing behind them, her eyes round with surprise at what she was seeing. She was currently dressed in the school blue girls uniform, and had let her book bag drop heavily at her feet as she walked forward.

"Selphie!" Kairi yelled to her friend.

"Kairi!" the girl cried out as she ran up and hugged her, "Where have you been, what happened to you!?"

"It's a long story, and I can't tell you right now." Kairi said sadly, "but I'm back and safe."

"Ah no fair," Selphie pouted, but as she looked back to Sora and Riku, "Are those . . ."

"Yeah they are."

"No way." She said walking up to the two boys, and then poking them in the chest just to be sure they were there, "It can't be."

"Hey long time no see Selphie." Sora said.

She jumped slightly at hearing him, but smiled at her friend and pulled him and Riku into a hug.

"AH you guys are back!" she yelled as she choked them in her grip.

"Yeah we are, can you let us go though." Riku choked out.

"Oh! Yeah sorry." She said letting them go, "where have you been at all this time, we've been worried sick about you guys. Well not really Sora, we actually forgot about you for a while."

"Hey." He said at the remark.

"We can't really say right now either, we've actually got some things to take care of first." Riku said.

"What!? Really you guys can't tell me where you've been all this time."

"We'll tell you eventually, but for now we're laying low until we can explain things." Kairi said coming up behind the other girl, "so could you possibly not tell anyone we're back until we say so."

"I guess so, but what about Tidus and Wakka?"

"Not even them."

"Well fine then, but when you release the scoop I'll be the first in line to hear all about it, you hear me."

"Yes, yes we'll make sure you know first, but since you found us it's probably a sign that we need to go back," Kairi said sadly, "But it was nice seeing you."

"Yeah it was good to see you to, and it's nice to know that you're all at least safe."

"Well then we're off," Riku said taking the lead to leave, "Later Selphie."

"Later you guys." She said giving them a wave as they headed for home.

…

They walked back into the house to the aroma of home cooked food. There was no one in the kitchen or at the table, but as they walked out the back door, they found everyone sitting in folding chairs and feasting on barbecue, potato salad, cooked fish and all other cookout foods you could think of. Hanging along the back fence, there was a small banner that read "welcome back!" in bright blue was a slight cheer as everyone welcomed them back from their walk and ushered them to join them. Piling their plates high, they all chowed down happily and enjoyed themselves.

It was right after Sora had finished off his first helping of food that he heard Roxas.

 _Hey so you going to do it?_

 _You think now is the right time to introduce you? I didn't even discuss it with Riku, or Kairi._

 _They'll survive_

 _That's supposed to convince me that they'll be fine with it?_

 _No, but we did say today at some point you bring me out._

 _So I'm going to just whip you out and people are going to be fine with it._

 _No I was hoping for a little more build up, and don't say it like that it makes me feel weird._

Sora sighed to himself as he gave it more thought, but it couldn't go bad at this point could it? It would just be another curveball in this crazy game they had thrown at their parents, hopefully they would accept it.

 _Fine then, just come out when I tell you to._

 _Gotcha boss._

Putting down his plate, he let out one more sigh before he stood up and walked over to where Riku and Kairi sat eating.

Riku looked to him quizzically, "Hey Sora, I thought you were gonna get another plate?"

"Had a change of plans," He said sitting with them, "Guys, I need you to go along with me with what I am about to do."

"What are you doing?" Kairi asked putting down her plate.

"You'll know in a sec." he answered standing back up. Walking to the center of the yard, he waved to everyone trying to get their attention. "Hey guys, I need you all to pay attention to me for a sec."

"What is it hun?" his mother asked him.

"Well, you guys met our friends here that have been traveling with us for a while now," Sora said trying to think of what he should say next in this awkward announcement, "but there are still a few people we failed to introduce."

"Sora," Riku said walking up to him quickly and leaning in close to where only he could hear him, "if you're talking about who I think you're talking about, don't you think that should be kept a secret."

"He really wanted to meet them," Sora said, "and besides it's not going to be any crazier than all the other stuff we've told them."

"And explain how they came about? If I remember right, we kind of skimmed over that part as not to freak out your family."

"Well it was bound to come out some time or later."

"Yeah but not during our welcome back dinner."

"Wasn't the time I chose either, but he insisted."

". . . Fine then," Riku said with a sigh as he stepped back and pulled Kairi toward Sora, "You're going to want to be here for this as well."

"What?" she asked wondering what was going on.

"Alright sorry for the interruption," Sora said turning back to everyone else, "So you guys remember how we explained how Nobodies were made right."

"Yeah, you guys said it's the shell of a person that's been turned in to a heartless." Sora's father said.

"Well do you guys also remember how we said that I freed Kairi's heart and we escaped from Hollow Bastion?"

"Yes, but you never went into great detail." The Mayor answered back.

"Yeah, well about that. When Riku was being manipulated by Ansem, he had that Keyblade that could unlock a person's heart, releasing the Darkness within. Well after we defeated him, his Keyblade had been left behind and we were left wondering how we should free Kairi's heart . . ."

Sora could see the look in everyone's eyes as they started to realize where he was going, it was sad look, especially when he looked into his mother's eyes. He turned away not wanting to see their faces, not wanting them to see his own anguished look as he remembered the feeling of pushing the blade into his chest. It wasn't the greatest of feelings, but the one thing that he had taken from it was that he had freed Kairi and that hopefully she would be safe.

"So I did the one thing that I thought would work, if that Keyblade could unlock a heart and release darkness, why wouldn't free someone else's heart. So before Donald and Goofy could stop me, I released Kairi's heart." He struggled to get the words out, knowing that it cut deep into the people around him, he didn't want to make them feel sorrow over what had been meant as a heroic act. Kairi put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly and gave him a knowing look that said ' _I'm with you'_ , "I wasn't a heartless for long thankfully, but it isn't something that I'd like to recall. Thankfully Kairi helped me return to normal and we left Hollow Bastion."

Sora paused to take a breath and turned to face everyone again.

"But the reason I'm telling you this isn't so we could just finish the story, like I said before I wanted to introduce some people to you." Stepping back, he gave Kairi a nod, knowing that she understood what she need to do, "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Roxas and Namine."

There was a brief pause, but slowly out of the dim light you could see the apparitions of the two appear before them.

"These are our Nobodies." He finished.

…

 **Again Everyone I deeply apologize for how late this one came out. But out of the darkness comes a glimpse of hope. Kingdom hearts 3 was shown at E3 and it looked amazing, I can't wait to play it and see the story, along with playing the FF7 remake.**


	4. Home

A/N: Hey guys, another day another chapter. Not much else to say.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

…

Roxas and Namine stood side by when they appeared in the yard, their appearance made ghostly in the dim light of the setting sun. There was a quiet awe that set over everyone as they took in what they were seeing, some of the parents even getting up because they couldn't believe what they saw. Namine gave everyone a shy smile and a small wave, while Roxas just took in everything around him.

"This here is Roxas." Sora said pointing to his Nobody, who smiled at the crowd and gave them a small wave as well.

"And this is Namine." Kairi said, stepping up to hers.

"Hi." They both said in unison.

There was only silence from everyone, which wasn't surprising in the least, except for King Mickey, Donald and Goofy, who all stood up shocked at the sight.

"It can't be." King Mickey said to no one in particular.

"This is amazing, they look just like you guys," Sora's mother said wide eyed, "It's like we had another child."

"Yeah we just missed the first sixteen years of the others one's life." Sora's father said.

"Technically you could say that we're only two years old," Roxas laughed, "But I think we prefer sixteen."

"Well, the fun never ends with you kids does it?" Riku's father said walking up to the four and getting a closer look, not bothered at all by their ghostliness, "You don't have one of these do you Riku?"

"No, but it would be just my luck if it turned out I had one and didn't know." Riku said with a sigh.

"But you didn't turn into a Heartless?"

"Yeah, but I was possessed by Ansem and that had a lot of lingering effects after he was destroyed by Sora. But who knows what else there is."

"True." Sora said thoughtfully.

"Well that will be something to deal with if it comes up," the Mayor said as he walked up as well, "But for now how about we introduce ourselves to our guests. My name is Carther, but most people just know me as the Mayor."

"It's nice to meet you," Namine said stepping up to the older man, "I guess you could say I'm like a second daughter, or a close friend of Kairi's."

"Well as long you don't fill my house with clothes like she does, I'd be more than welcome to have a second daughter."

"Hey!" Kairi yelled as her father snickered.

"Well if she's his second daughter, than that means you're our second son." Sora's father said as he stepped up. "At least we didn't have to change your diapers, so that's bonus points in my book already."

"Thank you sir." Roxas said trying to put his hand forth but remembering that he couldn't touch anything, drew it back in.

"Ah just call me pops, or Sam." His father said with a laugh.

"And I guess you can just call me mom, then," Sora's mother said stepping up, "my name is Christa, but I somehow ended up with the Nickname Kara, so you can just call me whatever."

"Thank you." Roxas said somewhat bashful at the moment.

"And we're Riku's parents," Riku's father said coming up to the two again. "I'm Jack."

"And I'm Sara." His wife said nicely.

Now that everyone had greeted each other, the uneasy feeling that had been in the air not too long ago had now seemingly lifted, and was replaced again by the hearty glow of happiness as everyone welcomed the two newcomers with open arms. It even surprised Sora at how quickly they had come to accepting the duo, even his parents and Kairi's father going as far as to welcome them as their second children. But with all that had happened in the last two days they probably just accepted it with all the other things that had been revealed. But as everything quieted back down, the parents all slumped a little.

"Well it looks like we have to change plans slightly." Riku's mother sighed.

"Wait? What?" Riku said looking questioningly to his mother.

"We have been discussing since you got back on how we might integrate you back into normal life without causing much of a ruckus," the Mayor said his own face looking more tired, "But you kids just keep throwing out more and more insanity. How we could explain this to anybody without them thinking we're insane is going to be impossible."

"Sorry about that." Sora said looking down.

"Don't worry about it kid," His father said tussling his spiky hair, "you guy were saving the universe, what more could a parent ask for."

"And besides, we already thought of an idea of how to explain where you've been all this time. And it's long and convoluted enough for people to not question it." Riku's mother chimed in.

"Which is?" Riku said looking skeptical.

"On the night when you guys disappeared, you went to rescue your raft as you did," King Mickey said joining the conversation, "but instead of traveling the worlds, you two lost your way in the storm and were carried away to a distant island on which you were able to survive for a while."

"That sounds good," Sora interjected, "But wouldn't it seem odd that the children of two skilled fishermen were swept away in a storm, I mean we were pretty skilled at sailing before we left, won't some people be skeptical?"

"Even the most skilled sailors succumb the sea eventually son." Sora's father said solemnly, "No matter how skilled you are nature will always win."

"Right." Sora said quietly.

"And using your skills as the young sailors you are, you were able to leave the island by building another raft." King Mickey continued, "After several days at sea, a pirate ship took you two in and to repay their "kindness" you were made to spend your time as pirates until you could find the right time to slip away."

"Wow that is not far from some of the things we've been through." Sora said surprised.

"Well some of the best stories have a kernel of truth in them, so we took what we could from your travels and thought this the best course." His mother said with a smile.

"But where do I play into this story?" Kairi asked.

"Sora and Riku were able to send out a message that you happened to find and decided to go out on your own to save them." the Mayor answered, "You were able to find them on a far off island, and together you all escaped and returned here."

"There seems to be a few details missing from this grandeur story of survival." Riku said still skeptical.

"Well there are going to be a few odds and ends to figure out, but you can bet that the people will have a better time believing something they know they can believe than what you all actually went through." The mayor said with a sigh, "Because if we don't go about this carefully we might all end up in the loony bin. Which brings us back to Namine and Roxas."

"Us?" the two said looking confused.

"Yes. As nice as it is to meet you, it might be best if we kept you secret from the rest of the world and refrain you from having young Sora and Kairi talk to themselves and ensuring that they do go to the loony bin."

"Understandable." Namine said with a nod, "that would probably be for the best."

"Yeah I think I can live with that, we technically live through them anyways so it wouldn't feel like we are being left out." Roxas said.

"Good then." The Mayor said smiling at the two, "Well enough of this scheming, this is party to welcome our children back, as well as some new members to our family."

"Hear, Hear!" everyone said returning to the happy mood that was their party. Now with two extra member of the party, everyone began to talk with one another and began to relax again. Namine was talking and laughing with Kairi and the Mayor, and Roxas was enthralled in a great fishing story that Sora and Riku's father were telling the young lad. It was what would become one of their happiest memories to remember and one that they would recall far into the future on how they all came back together as friends and family.

…

As the night drew late, the party was slowly coming to a close as everyone began to clean up the festivities and call it a night. Namine and Roxas decide to stay in their ghostly forms until everyone had left and then went back to their respective counterpart in a small flash of light. While the parents went back inside, the young adults decided to stay out in the backyard and enjoy the cool night air and the distant sounds of the crashing waves. They didn't say anything to one another, it was just a nice and quiet moment that they had been lacking for some time and none of them wanted to ruin. But then Riku and Kairi called it a night and left Sora to his thoughts outside by himself.

 _Thank you Sora_ Roxas said in the recesses of his mind.

 _No problem_

 _I . . . I didn't know how welcoming they would be of me_

 _Yeah, our family is kind of a crazy bunch once you get to know them_

 _Our family . . . I never thought I'd here that. The only person I could consider even being close to family is Axel, but even then . . ._

 _Family isn't something bound by blood, but by the ties that you make. Axel felt that you were the closest thing to a friend he ever had, even a brother. So never forget those ties_

 _Of course I won't . . .but it's probably best if you get some rest, I kinda woke you up last night and I know how tired you are because I'm tired as well_

 _Jeez I didn't know I had a second mom to nag me_

 _Don't you talk to me in that tone of voice young man!_

 _Ha Ha whatever_ Sora even laughed out loud at that comment, but even he knew his counterpart was right. So getting up, he walked into the house and left the twinkling stars to shimmer untouched by the dark forces that had conspired to snuff them.

…

 _Four days later_

It was incredibly early in the morning on the Destiny Islands, the sun had yet to peak over the horizon and the only people that were up were fishermen preparing for another day at sea, and the six traveling heroes. They all stood on the island that they had played on as kids and taking up most of the beach was the Gummi ship that the king had called for days before. It had been nice for them all to meet their family, but the King and his companions had decided that it was time to return home themselves.

"Are you sure you can't stay any longer?" Sora asked the King who shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sora, but it's high time we returned home. There's a lot that I've gotta take care of and people that I miss as well, but don't worry we'll stay in touch."

"Yeah okay." Sora said sadly, but he knew how the king felt and understood he had duties as king that he was required to do. Turning now to Donald and Goofy, he felt his emotions rise as he remembered all the time they had spent together. For the past two years they had been together and had rarely been apart and had become some of his best friends. They looked down sadly as he walked up to them and this brought up one of his first memories of them.

"Hey guys what happened to no frowning and no sad faces." Even as he said this though, he could feel his own tears start to well up in the corners of his eyes.

"Of course, when are we ever sad?!" Donald said jumping up.

"Yeah, our ship runs on happy faces." Goofy said perking up as well.

…

 _Cue the sad, but heartfelt music_

…

"Yeah . . . guys, I just want you to know that you've been the best traveling companions that a Keyblade wielder could ask for." Sora said trying to keep a happy face and then pointing to his chest, "No matter how far you guys are, you'll always be in here with me."

"Our hearts are always connected." Goofy said, "Ahyuck! All for one . . ."

"And one for all." They all finished together and laughed once more.

Over by the King, Riku was saying his own goodbyes, though less tearful, it was definitely a goodbye filled with gratitude and happiness at having a faithful companion like the king. Kairi was saying her own goodbyes to both groups and handed them some bags filled with food for the trip which Donald and Goofy helped load into the ship. While they all did this the King pulled Riku and Sora to the side.

"Now there shouldn't be any issues with Heartless or Nobodies, but Maleficent is still out there along with Pete, so if anything happens here-"

"We'll give you a call." Riku finished for him.

"And if you need any help don't be afraid to give us a call."

"Right." The King said with a smile and handed them a small device with a single button on it, "If there's ever an emergency and you need to leave quick, just use that and it will call a Gummi ship to your location, I'll have it set warp so it'll be here in a matter of seconds."

"Thank you your Majesty." Riku and Sora said taking the device.

"And I don't think I have to remind you that it would be best if you kept your Keyblades a secret the rest of the world."

"Of course your Majesty, we'll make sure to keep it a secret."

"We've finished loading the Gummi ship your Majesty!" Donald called from the Gummi ship.

"Then that means it's time for us to leave." He said with a sigh. But looking back to the two young men, he knew he could always count on them for anything. Walking up to each of them, he shook their hands and wished them the best. Walking back to the ship, Sora was tackled by his two friends in one final goodbye hug.

"We sure will miss you Sora." Goofy said getting up and helping his two comrades up.

"At least we won't have to worry about him eating all the food again." Donald said jokingly.

"Very funny Donald, if I remember correctly that was actually you." Sora said back.

"Aw Phooey." Was his only response.

At that moment Kairi walked down the gang plank of the Gummi ship of the Gummi ship and joined up with Sora.

"It was really nice getting to see you guys again, I hope we'll see you again soon." She said giving each of them a hug.

"Of course we'll see each other again." Donald said heading up the gangplank followed by the King.

"Ahyuck, you two play nice now." Goofy said as he went into the ship as well.

"Hey!" Sora yelled as the ship closed pulled in the gangplank and closed the door, leaving an embarrassed Sora and Kairi at the bottom.

"Goofy is a lot more intuitive then he seems." Riku said to himself as he joined his two friends as they backed away from the ship when its engines started up. From the Cockpit, you could see the three figures waving to them as the ship slowly rose into the air, higher and higher until they the ship blasted into warp in a beautiful array of colors as the sun broke the horizon.

"I'm going to miss those guys." Sora said sadly.

"It was time for them to head home, they have people that miss them just as we had people miss us here." Riku said looking toward the morning sun, "Speaking of our people, did they leave the stuff?"

"Right over here." Kairi said walking over to the shack.

Since the night of the party, everyone had been planning on how they were going to get Sora, Riku and Kairi back on the grid with their master plan, and after much preparation, they had figured the best course of solution would be to fake a return. Coming out of the shack, Kairi handed a bag to the two boys and they each pulled out a bunch of dungy clothes that could pass for worn sailing clothes used by overworked teens. The plan was simple, they would dress up in the nasty clothes and would take a small cutter that Sora's father had stored on the opposite side of the island, they would then sail to the docks on the main islands were most of the sailors would still be and fake their rejoice at returning. The plan wasn't extravagant, but it was better than explaining the truth and having them all locked up for insanity.

…

 _Plus I thought it was a good idea so there._

…

Taking turns inside the shack to change, they each found themselves in filthy clothes that smelled heavily of fish, sweat, and grime. Strapped to their wastes were a set of Cutlasses that the Mayor had lent them, and Riku even had a gun tucked into his belt for added effect. Kairi on the other hand was dressed in a much cleaner set of sailing clothes and had a small knife strapped to her waist as well. Walking over to the spring, they each scooped out a handful of mud and began rubbing it onto wherever seemed fit to help them look dirty. After it was all said and done, they looked like they had spent their time traveling in unhealthy conditions, and smelled it to.

"Whew," Kairi said waving her hand to waft the smell away from her, "Your dads sure can work a smell into clothes that's for sure."

"Wearing the same clothes for two days and rolling in rotten fish will do that to a fisherman." Sora said taking a whiff himself, "I think my dad actually enjoyed doing it."

"I think my father had a little too much fun doing it as well." Riku said scrunching his nose.

Walking over to the other side of the island, they pulled out the cutter hidden by foliage in the small cove, it was large enough to carry the three of them as well as some fake provisions in small crates. Hopping in, Riku took to till and began to steer the cutter while Sora unfurled the sails.

"Man it has been awhile since I've done this." Sora said as he sat down, "I'm too used to flying the Gummi."

"No buttons, or flashing lights on this vessel." Riku said with a smile as he steered them around the island.

"Yeah, and no heartless ships either."

"I never had to deal with those."

"Well they were a pain, let me tell you. All the times we almost crashed and the times that we did . . . actually whenever we did crash it was because Donald and I were arguing, that time Monstro ate us, and Hook's ship crashing into us."

"Sorry about that again."

"No problem." Sora said lightly, and then thinking about, "Oh man, Kairi I never told you of them time we flew!"

"You flew?" She said looking at him quizzically.

"Yeah, like real flying in the air. It was amazing, Peter and Tinker Bell helped me do it and all I had to do was believe. After we left Hollow Bastion, I forgot to tell you about it because of the whole impending doom thing."

"Sorry about that as well." Riku called from the back.

"How about we just agree that you are sorry for all that bad stuff, and we move on." Sora said sarcastically.

"I can live with that."

"So what was it like to fly?" Kairi asked, smiling at how excited he seemed to be to tell her.

"It's almost like when you're under water and you can just float there, except you move a lot quicker when you move. But it feels like it's so much more than that, it something that's hard to explain. Actually when I get a chance, I'll show you how I can glide!"

"I'd like that." Kairi said giving him a sweet smile.

Sora blushed at the smile that she shone at him, and quickly looked toward the island growing in the distance. He'd wondered how his parents would react when he returned home, now he wondered how the rest of his friends would react at his and Riku's return. There was no way they could tell the truth, so lying was the only way they would be able to return without suspicion, besides Selphie who had already been informed to play along with the return act. As they slowly drew closer to port, they could make out the sailors and fishermen that were preparing for another hard day out on the sea, and he could just make out where his and Riku's father.

"Showtime." Riku said as the got close enough for the first fisherman to notice them.

As they drew closer, a fisherman that was just about ready to cast off noticed the small cutter headed his way. This seemed strange to the man since most boats in the surrounding islands came in for the night, and it was rare for boats from far off islands to arrive this early in the morning. But as he started to make out the figures in the boat, his jaw dropped when he recognized the Mayor's daughter who had been missing for the past couple weeks due to unknown circumstances.

"Bleedin' Christ!" he said as he nudged one of his coworkers, pointing to the oncoming cutter and its crew, "Is that who I think it is!?"

When his fellow worker looked over, he too was shocked by what he was seeing, and the two figures with her seemed rather familiar as well.

"I think that's Kairi, where in the world . . . and is that Sora, and Riku!?"

"Holy! Go get Sam and Jack, and send someone to grab the Mayor!" the first fisherman said pushing his fellow to get him moving. Hooping of the boat himself, he ran to the end of the Dock and waited to pull in the Incoming boat.

"Hey!" the trio yelled as they got close enough for the fisherman to grab their boat.

"Good Lord it is you!" the fisherman said as he pulled them in, "You're alive."

"Yeah we are!" Sora said hopping off the boat and gripping the fisherman's forearm. He knew this man, he was an old sailor known as Old Jim who had spent more than enough time on the sea to know every inch of the waters that surrounded the islands. He had worked with his father, and he had known this man since he was a boy.

"Where in bloody world have you been!? We thought you was good and dead!" the old man said shaking his head in disbelief at what he was seeing.

"Aww c'mon Jim, I thought you told us we were going to be some of the best sailors these waters had seen in years?" Riku said as he tied off the boat and helped Kairi out.

"Aye, but to survive a storm like that one is something even I can't do." He said turning between the two, and then looking to Kairi, "And where have you been, running off and leaving your father worried sick?"

"It's a long story, but I had to save these two Damsels from danger." Kairi said smartly.

Ha ha, now that is a woman I can appreciate." The old man cackled as he waved for them to come with him, "C'mon your fathers just arrived here, and boy will I surprise them with my biggest catch yet!"

Looking at each other, the three smiled and laughed a little inside. "Yeah, it's going to be one heck of a surprise."


	5. Moving Forward

**A/N** : Hey guys, so the last chapter was definitely a fun one for me and I hope it was for you as well. But this chapter is what I plan on being the true point in which this story kicks off, the chapters before were just a prelude to the real thing, because I always wondered what their return would be like, now we can hopefully get this going in the direction it needs to. There is still going to be some build up to the story to be had, but we'll get to see some action in soon.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Kingdom Hearts or Disney.

…

 _Three months later_

Things had finally started to quiet down for the trio as they finally settle back down into their normal lives, or as close as they could get it normal. The islands had flipped at the return of Sora, Riku, and Kairi, and what had happened to them during their time away, even though the story they heard was false. It had all gone according to plan, fake return, and fake reunion with family, and lie to everyone else about what had happened to them. The only one outside of their families to know that their story was a load of Bull was Selphie, but true to her word she had stayed quiet yet frustrated at their whole act. There had been quite a bit of attention focused on them for the past three months as people asked what had happened in great detail to a point that it was like they were celebrities of a cruel. And then people began to wonder what to do with them, did they need therapy, could they return to society, did they need to rehabilitated back into normal life? But thankfully it had been left up to the families, who had all decided beforehand that the best plan was to let them be and have them work out the problems themselves. But now things were quieting down and the prospect of school lay on the horizon. When the trio had returned, it was in the last weeks of the school year and summer waited for the student, but now it was coming to an end and the question about the trio's education came into play.

…

On the Island where they played at so long ago, Sora and Riku now practiced with their Keyblades as to keep up their abilities. Though they could relax for now, they never knew when, or if, the Darkness would return and they had to be ready if they were called upon to fulfill their duties as wielders of the Keyblade. So for the past three months they had practiced on the island away from the prying eyes of their family and the people who wanted to know more about them, the only person aware of their daily routines being Kairi as she practiced with her newly acquired blade as well, though she lacked the time they had. So for most of their days they spent working with their fathers in their fishing boats, or practicing with their blades.

"FIRE!" Sora called out shooting a fireball at Riku who deflected the blast into the sand turning the surrounding crater into glass. Without missing a beat, Riku Charge forward at high speeds and slashed down with his Way to Dawn blade. Sora just managed to block the blow with his Kingdom Key, and with a quick movement, raised both their blade high enough into the air so that he could give Riku a kick to the chest.

"Nice try!" Riku yelled anticipating the kick. Grabbing Sora's foot with his free hand, he pushed it high into the air putting Sora off balance and falling back.

"Nice try yourself!" Sora yelled back as he fell back. Placing his hand on the ground, he swung his weight around and used the momentum to strengthen his kick that took out his opponents legs out from under him and sending him to the ground. Before the whoosh of air could escape Riku's lips, Sora was already dashing toward him, Keyblade slashing down on his opponent's throat. But of course this was only practice, so Sora stopped the blade just mere inches away.

"Ha! I win this one." Sora said smugly to his friend below.

"Not quite." Riku said gesturing downward. Just below Sora's chest, the tip of Way to Dawn poked at his stomach, almost daring him to continue.

"Oh no you don't, I won this one." Sora said sending his blade away and giving Riku a hand up, "You would've been a goner, good thing I like you enough to keep you around as practice."

"Really." Riku said standing up and sending his own blade away, "From the way I see it, I would've impaled you and you'd be dead now, so how about you thank me for sparing you."

"Whatever, I totally beat you this time."

"In your dreams."

"Hey guys!" a voiced called to them from behind.

"Speaking of "In your dreams"." Riku said laughing to himself.

"Shut up man." Sora said elbowing his comrade as Kairi ran up to them, a bright smile on her face.

"So I got some good news for you guys!" she said as she reached them, the excitement plastered on her face.

"Well what is it!" Riku said feigning excitement.

"There's been a lot of discussion, but it's been decided that you guys get to be in the grades you would be if you hadn't gone traveling the worlds." She said ignoring the mockery.

"What? Seriously?" the two said surprised.

"Yep! So Sora and I are in the same grade and Riku is in the one above us."

"Hold on a minute, besides the fact that we haven't learned anything in the past two years to qualify us for those grades, what made them think it was a good idea for us to continue our education?" Riku asked.

"Well haven't you guys thought about coming back to school?"

"Yeah, ever since our parents told us last week that they were gonna try and enroll us, but we never believed it was gonna happen." Sora answered with a tired expression.

"Well its happening and you two are gonna like it. Besides, what was your plan after High school?" Kairi asked leaning forward and putting a hand to her ear.

"….."

"I didn't quite catch that?"

"….."

"Oh well if you don't recall, how about I refresh your memory. It was to go and travel the worlds, and we were going to test that out by building a raft and seeing how far we could go. Does that sound about right?"

"…Yes." They both said quietly.

"And what have you two been doing while I have been here getting my education?"

"…Traveling the worlds."

"And that is exactly the reason why you should go to school."

"But it was for a good cause." Sora said trying to find a point to his side.

"It was, but now you need to move on from that. What's your plan for the future?"

"I don't know." Sora said turning away and looking to the ocean, "But I think it'll come to me with time, and not school."

A dark aura seemed to overtake Kairi as she listened to Sora's words, a really angry aura. Seeing this, Riku took a step back trying to escape the possible danger that was about to befall up his friend.

"You both aren't getting away this time." She said grabbing Sora by his hood and dragging him down the beach with her, "You guys don't get to have fun spending all day doing nothing while I stay in class. You have no choice. SUFFER WITH ME!"

"No please!" Sora cried as he was dragged off towards the boats, reaching out to Riku he gave him a pleading look for help, but Riku only shook his head as his comrade was hauled off.

"Sorry Sora."

"Don't worry Riku you're next!" Kairi yelled over her shoulder.

"….better go quieter than Sora is at least." He said begrudgingly following the two down towards where their boats were docked.

…

In the dying light of the sun, the sky turned different shades of red and made the light reflecting of the water look orange. To the stranger of the islands, it was a fantastically beautiful world, one that he had yet to see in all of the places that he had been to in his travels. The Islands were placed in one of the quieter corners of the world away from all the noise and hubbub keeping the tranquil peace and beauty uninterrupted.

"Now this is a place I could get used to." The stranger said as he strolled down the sidewalk at the edge of the beach. The sound of crashing waves and warm breeze in the air calmed him and a sense of peace overcame him.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME!"

And then it was gone.

"PLEASE STOP KAIRI!"

Annoyed by the disturbance of his peace, the stranger turned to find the source, only to have it crash into him at full force knocking him over.

"OOF!?"

…

Catching up to his friends, Riku found Sora and Kairi in a pile on top of some strange fellow he didn't recognize, all the while Kairi Scolded Sora for what he did while she was just as much at fault. Walking up to them, he pulled the bickering duo off the poor soul and helped him to his feet.

"Sorry about that, my friends are a bit of a handful sometimes." He said apologetically to the stranger.

"No worries." The stranger said dusting himself off and picking up his green duffel bag.

Getting a closer look at the person he'd helped, Riku found a person just about his age if not slightly older than Sora and Kairi, his short thick black hair swept to the side in a messy manner above a set of dark brows and hazel eyes, a small scar just to the left of his mouth made clear by his tan skin. He stood just a little higher than Riku, but it wasn't noticeable, but he was definitely a bit more built than he was, his arms thick enough to do some serious damage to an enemy if needed. He would've seemed like an intimidating person if not for flowery shirt and laid back nature this person gave off in his visibly relaxed stance.

"I haven't seen you around the Islands before, are you knew here?" he asked trying to be polite.

"Yeah, names Cole Schatten." He said shaking Riku's hand.

"Riku. Those two over there are Sora and Kairi." Riku said pointing to the still arguing duo, "So what brings you to the islands?"

"My grandmothers not in the best of health so I came here to take care of her."

"That's so kind of you." Kairi said entering the conversation, a flustered look on her face, "Sorry about tripping into you."

"Yeah sorry about that." Sora apologized as well.

"Like I said, no worries." Cole laughed, "Ah to be young and in love, I wish I had my girl with me."

"Whoa now, hold on a second their friend." Sora said putting his hands up.

"We're not together." Kairi said blushing.

"You coulda fooled me." Cole said scratching his head.

"You and me both, they've been arguing like an old married couple the whole boat trip back." Riku sighed.

"HEY!"

"Ha ha, well children I gotta say it was nice to meet you, but I need to get going. Places to be, things to do, grannies to help make dinner, you know the drill." Cole said turning and waving, "I'll see ya around."

"It was nice to meet you." Kairi called after the boy as he walked off.

"He seems like a nice guy." Sora said once the guy had left.

"Nice enough for to bone heads like you to run into him." Riku said scolding the two.

After a few more minutes of squabbling, the three walked off towards their homes in the hopes that dinner was ready, but as they walked home, they each had something different on their minds that bothered them.

 _Can I really go back to a normal life with school and friends?_

 _Will Sora be happy here?_

 _Is it okay for me to be happy like this?_

These thoughts permeated their minds, it had been a something they had thought about before, but it hadn't really bothered them. Now was different, things were happening and they weren't sure if they could deal with it, it was different from fighting Heartless and Nobodies, you couldn't handle life the same way. But there was something else that bothered them, their chance meeting with the boy they'd run into, but unlike their other thoughts, this one was the same.

 _What was that dark feeling?_

…

Stepping into the house that he was to stay in, Cole set his bag down in the living room and went to the kitchen to grab himself a drink. Walking out to the front porch, he sat down on a rocking chair and enjoyed the evening hours as the stars began to come out, brightly lit in the clear crisp sky.

"Why does fate toy with me like this." He said taking a sip from his drink, "Hmph, I guess they had a reason for naming the islands what they are."

Getting up he walked back into the empty house and set his mug into the sink.

"Destiny . . . what a load."

…

 **Well guys it's time to move forward with the story. I was a bit conflicted on how much time should pass before things got started, but I feel it went in the right direction . . . I think? Anyway I just hope you guys enjoy and I'll see ya in the next chapter.**


	6. First day

**A/N:** Hey guys I'm hoping to make these a little bit longer so the wait doesn't feel so bad. Also if some of my writing seems to get worse, it's most likely because I turned 21 and well you know how some of that goes. That actually sounds really stupid, but remember kids don't drink and write, or drive, or anything because it won't end well. Also if there was something grammar wise that you couldn't stand, just shoot me a message and I'll try to get right on that.

…

"Well students, I would like to be the first to welcome you all back school," Principle Harlow said to the assembly of students in the auditorium, "I'm sure you all enjoyed you summer, but now it's time to get back to the grind and continue your education."

It had been two weeks since Kairi had announced to her friends that they had been accepted back into the Destiny Islands school system, and now they all sat in the assembly with the rest of their peers listening to the principle. Kairi seemed happy sitting next to her friends who seemed less then eager to be in the school, but accepted it knowing how their friend would react to them not showing up at all. Sora was doing his best to pay attention to the principle, but couldn't quite keep his eyes open, and Riku was sitting silently listening with his eyes closed . . . or he could just be asleep.

"Here to say a few words on your first day back, it is my privilege to introduce the Mayor of our islands." The Principle finally said as she stepped away from the podium. At the mention of the Mayor, the trio all sat up and watched as the Mayor stepped out dressed in a more formal suit that was offset by his everlasting laid back nature.

"Ahem." The mayor said when he finally reached the mike, "Hello students, it is a happy day indeed that I get to step away from the office and come and speak to you all today as you go back to your classes. I would like to say a few words to you all about your future here at the Destiny Islands High School, but before that I would like to bring up a few students. Sora, Riku, Kairi, would you all mind coming up here?"

The trio sat there for a second processing what the Mayor had asked them, but got up quickly at the behest of a teacher waving to them. The students who had sat around them, had all been quiet and had for them most part not bothered them, but there was a smattering of whispers that could be heard as they were called up. Everyone in the Islands knew who they were, Sora and Riku the boys who had been thought to be dead, and Kairi the girl that had received a message that said that they were in need of help. They had all supposedly had quite the adventure and had returned to the Islands as changed people, so it was a curious matter of what they would do next? But here they were now and nobody was really sure how they should treat them.

People scooted out of their way as they exited aisle, and tried to avoid making eye contact with them and not touch them as they passed, and they in turned tried their best to ignore them back. When they reached the podium, Sora and Riku each received a hand shake from the Mayor, and Kairi a hug. Not sure what they were supposed to do they stood behind the Mayor as he turned back to speak to the student body before them.

"We may as well address this while I have all of your attention. As most of you should know, these three have been through an incredible journey that many people will never know and hopefully never will. But a lesson should be taken from this journey, and that is no matter where you are or how difficult the situation is, our friends will always be there to guide us even in the darkest of times. They will be there to pick us up when we have fallen, push us when we think we can go on no longer, and remind us that we are never alone in this world. Because of the friendship these three carry, they were able to return to us, and restore the broken hearts of their family, friends, and community." There was silence in the Auditorium as the Mayor finished his speech, not even a gossiping whisper could be heard, and in a High school that is an amazing thing, "That is part of why we go to school, so not only can we learn for our future, but also so that we can brighten our future with friends and allies that we make here. Cherish these moments that you will experience as they will be more limited than you know . . . Well, take this lesson as you will, I'm sure you are all tired of listening to the lectures of a crazy old man."

The quip from the Mayor received laughter and applause as he stepped down from the podium and pulled the trio with him to the side of the stage so they could sit with him as the principle went back to the podium.

"Well that is an important lesson that all of us should learn." The principle said proudly to her students as if she herself had said it, "But on the matter of our returning friends, I am going to tell you all right now that asking them about their journey is strictly prohibited unless they choose to tell it. As you all might expect it could be a sensitive and private matter that could bring up harsh memories, so again don't ask unless they decide to tell their story themselves."

"You'd think we're some rare and fragile species of monkey the way she talks about us." Riku whispered to his friends, which received from snicker from them and the Mayor. And so the Principle went onto her own speech about how this school was a sacred place of learning and how we should respect it, and also the person driving the blue sedan was parked illegally, blah blah blah, yada yada, so on and so forth.

"And finally, now that many of you have reached the sophomore level of your education, you may now also participate in the yearly Island battle tournament!"

The yearly Island battle tournament, a tournament that pitted the five best fighters from schools across nearby and distant Islands against each other in a clash of prowess and power. Learning to fight was a long respected tradition amongst the people of the Islands, different techniques and style have been passed down through the ages and has helped keep the culture alive and entertaining.

"Not everyone will get to participate, but it is the job of those who don't to help support our friends who are and cheer for them. It is required for everyone to take 'Fighting style and history', and a training class if you wish to join the tournament, or just want to learn from it." the principle said excitedly, "But for now, enjoy your first day back, and just relax. You're all dismissed!"

…

"Do we really have to wear this every day?" Sora asked pulling at his clothes. Like everyone else in the school, they were required to where a school uniform. The boys would wear a white shirt along with a light blue tie and light blue pants, the girls would wear a similar outfit, but would wear a light blue plaid skirt. The only style option they seemed to offer was whether you wanted to have your shirt short sleeved, or sleeveless. Kairi had kept hers sleeveless and Riku had chosen that as well, while Sora decided to stay short sleeved as with most of his clothes.

"Every day," Kairi said walking between her friends as they strode down the hall to their lockers. Students were spread everywhere in the halls as they all got ready to head to their first class of the day, many talking at their lockers and others welcoming back friends they hadn't seen for a long time.

"Great." Sora sighed.

"Oh quit your moaning you'll survive, and hey, at least we get to take Battle history and tactics together." Kairi said brightly.

"You're entering your card for the tournament?" Riku asked looking down to his friend worried.

"Nope, but I can at least hang out with you guys and train a bit more myself!"

"I guess it won't be so bad if we're together for those classes at least." Sora said cheering up.

"Well those are the only classes we'll have with Riku, but since Sora and I are in the same grade they thought it'd be best if he stuck with me for all my classes!" Kairi said cheerfully.

"All of them?"

"All of them, but that's not all." Running ahead of the boys, Kairi went to the lockers at the end of the hall and stood in front of them, "Behold, we've been granted lockers right next to each other!"

"Well you're full of surprises." Riku said walking up to the lockers and opening his.

"I'm awesome admit it." Kairi said proudly leaning her ears towards him for his praise.

"Oh you're something alright."

"And what's that supposed to mean!?"

"It means we need to head to our first class or be late." Riku said tossing his bag in the locker.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well I couldn't think of anything else, but seriously we need to get to our classes."

"Fine." Kairi said grabbing her books and then grabbing Sora, "C'mon we've got to get to chemistry."

…

"Please let this be over!" Sora said when he flopped down at the lunch table.

"Oh quit you're whining, we get to go to Fighting style and History next and then we get to go to training later." Riku said sitting down a bit more quietly than his companion.

The day had gone as well as most would expect, boring first day of class and even more boring teachers to teach them. Kairi seemed to be enjoying herself well enough with Sora with her, but he was not as excited as her, while Riku just took it in stride, but that wasn't the main thing that bothered most of them. People were just avoiding them, not out of rudeness, but more of a "we'll be respectful and let them have their space" kinda sense which made it seem rude all the same.

"I can't stand this! I need freedom and fresh air!" Sora complained banging his head against the table.

"And you'll get it come 5 PM when training ends." Kairi said sitting down with a tray of food, "But until then you can sit through the lectures and suffer quietly."

"And that's suppo-"

"Well look at what we have here, been away all summer and we come back to find you troublemakers back in town." A voice said from behind them. Turning around, they found Wakka and Tidus heading towards them with broad grins on their faces. Tidus and Wakka had grown up quite a bit in the last two years, Wakka who had always been tall, was now even taller with a lot more muscle to boot; Tidus had was now as tall as Sora, but was definitely a bit more muscled up.

"Hey you guys!" Sora said getting up and high fiving the duo.

"Well I have to say Sora you been away two years and doesn't seem to have done you much ya." Wakka said looking him up and down.

"Yeah, I thought you'd be a bit more impressive than this." Tidus said joined in shaking his head.

"You don't look like much yourselves either, but hey I wasn't gonna say anything." Riku said aiding his friend.

The boys stared each other down long and hard before they both broke out laughing and slapping each other on the back. The longtime friends were now all together again, though they weren't the closest of friends like Sora and Riku were, all four of them had grown up together and had each other's back no matter what, and always had a great time sparing each other.

"Where have you guys been?" Sora said taking a seat with his friends.

"They've been at a training camp for Blitzball on another island." Selphie said joining the group at the table.

"Well that explains why we never saw you guys around." Sora said.

"Yeah man, we're getting serious now." Tidus said, "We're the top players of the Destiny Islands team, and soon we'll be the top contenders in the tournament coming up.

"And what makes you say that?" Riku said leaning in.

"I made the tournament team last year and we would have won to, but a guy from the Fate Islands tripped me up and got me." Wakka said shaking his head, "We were so close, but that was last year and this year Tidus will get to fight as well, so we are definitely going to win."

"That's assuming that you actually can make the cut, but if you do, then that means Riku and I well get two spots as well." Sora said with a smirk.

"Oh ho, big and tough are we." Tidus laughed, "Well then let's make a promise that we four will make the cut for the tournament and win it all."

"You got it." Sora said taking Tidus's hand and then Wakka's and Riku doing the same.

"So that leaves one more spot for someone else to take." Kairi said smiling at the boys who were enjoying themselves, "I wonder who it will be?"

"As long as they can hold their own, I don't really mind who it is." Wakka said sitting back, "But enough about the tournament, what about you guys? We heard the stories about what happened to you, but there's gotta be more than what you're saying ya?

"I thought nobody was supposed to ask us about that." Kairi said giving the boy a look.

"They aren't." Selphie said joining her friend in the mean look department.

"We're just curious." Tidus said defensively.

"You're being rude."

"Aren't you curious?"

"Yes, but unlike you I can hold in my questions."

"Must be hard."

"You have no idea." Selphie sighed, "But they'll tell us when they tell us. Right?"

"Of course we will, maybe later at the island we'll talk about it." Sora said smiling at his friends squirming in their seats, "But until then you can endure it."

"Just like you're gonna endure the rest of school today." Kairi said smartly turning to Sora.

"I don't like you right now."

"Oh, whatever will I do!?" Kairi said with a laugh.

…

 _30 min later_

"Well students I would like to welcome you all to Fighting style and History." Mr. Dalton addressed the class giddily, "I'm sure most of you are more than excited to have a chance to participate in the Tournament, but to be able to, you must first learn the reasons for the tournament, and how you can properly fight."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi currently sat in the auditorium along with 45 other students who had decided that they would like to have a chance to participate in the tournament. To participate in the tournament, it was required by all schools that students attempting to participate must first go through a proper training class, which taught students to properly use their weapon no matter how proficient they might already be, and an actual training class which would hone their abilities and would be the class to decide who would be chosen for the tournament. The auditorium would be where the Fighting style and History (Proper training) class, and a field outside of the school would be where the training (actual training) class would be held. The teacher that stood on the stage before them was Mr. Dalton, a short balding man that was known for his kindness, though it was well known that back in the day he had been a fierce tournament fighter himself who had shown no mercy. Apparently he had been such a tough and violent opponent, that he had single handedly taken down an entire school team himself, but once he graduated, he went into a life of peace and teaching. Though that only meant that he would teach future tournament fighters how to fight, while he tried to keep the peace.

"My job is to teach you all the known fighting style out there so that you can then learn how to fight in that style yourself, or learn how to properly defend it with your own techniques." Mr. Dalton said jumping onto the stage where an assortment of practice weapons were assembled, "Most of you have probably grown up learning how to fight, so this might be easier for you than to someone who isn't as practiced, but don't worry too much as you will learn a lot. Now if you would al-"

Mr. Dalton was interrupted by the screechy squeaky noise of the auditorium doors being opened as someone attempted to enter the large room, though if they had meant to come in quieter, they had failed and were now cursing in the shadow of the door.

"It seems we have a late bird." Mr. Dalton jokingly said to the class, "C'mon in, we've just started, don't be shy!"

The figure in the doorway closed the doors behind him letting off another squeaky squeal throughout the auditorium making many of the student shake their head, or laugh quietly amongst themselves, until the figure came into view. From the shadows of the door emerged a large well-muscled figure with short dark hair swept to the side and bright hazel eyes surrounded by a tan face.

"Isn't that the guy we ran into awhile back?" Kari said leaning over to her two friends.

"You mean who you two ran into, yes I believe it is." Riku said giving his friends a glare, "I think his name was Cole."

"Sorry about being late, I'm not from these Islands so I had a hard time finding my way around," Cole said smiling and rubbing the back of his head, "And then I got lost in the school."

"No worries my boy I can understand that." Mr. Dalton said coming down and greeting the new student, "What's your name son?"

"Cole Schatten

"Good name, strong name, matches its owner, I have to ask what are they feeding the children where you come from to make you look like this?"

"Beef. Lots and lots of beef."

"Ha, a carnivore." Mr. Dalton said nodding with approval, "alright then, take a seat wherever you'd like. Now class we shall be . . ."

Turning from the teacher, Cole faced the small crowd of students and looked around trying to find an open seat before he noticed the trio of friends he'd met awhile back, so he walked over to them with a kind smile and took a seat just in front of them.

"Well isn't this a surprise running into you like this." He said turning back to them.

"Ha ha funny." Sora scoffed.

"I thought it was."

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked.

"I'm here to learn and stuff." Cole said pointing to his head, "My granny made me go here, even though I'm supposed to be taking care of her, but she thinks she'll be fine without me for a couple hours out of the day so I guess it's alright."

"Must be hard," Kairi said looking between Cole and the teacher, "leaving your friends and family to take care of your grandmother."

"Nah it ain't that bad. My parents suggested I go here, and my friends back home are just a bunch of a holes, but they kept me entertained enough." Cole chuckled, "And besides, if I manage to make the dream team here, then it will give me a chance to kick them around for a bit."

"That's true friendship right there." Sora said.

"What, beating the crap out of each other is the meaning of friendship?" Kairi said looking at him skeptically.

"Nothing says your good friends like whacking them in the head."

"And now we'll talk about why we fight in the tournament every year." The gang heard Mr. Dalton say as they turned back to class, "Lets see . . . How about you there Kairi, would you mind telling us why we fight in the tournament?"

"Yes sir." Kairi said standing up, "A long time ago, the Islands were once one great land mass that flourished in peace and prosperity. But for whatever reason that is still unknown to us today, the people of the land mass began fighting each other for no apparent reason and they began to slowly destroy one another."

 _Hmmm._ Sora thought to himself.

 _Something on your mind?_ Roxas asked.

 _Yeah, but I don't know what it is. Something about this story. . ._

 _Is she telling it wrong?_

 _No she's telling it correctly, but for some reason it feels like there's something off. I don't know._

"The people continued to fight one another and those with great power rose up and used weapons of mass destruction to destroy those who opposed them. By the time the people stopped fighting each other, the land mass had begun to crumble and split, separating the people from one another and ending the feuding of the people. Unfortunately that wasn't the end, the people who managed to survive began suffering from the after effects of the war, whether due to famine, drought, toxic chemical, and other things left over. The only ones left when things finally became habitable again were the children, and it was these children who sought rebuild what their parents had destroyed, and to find everlasting peace among the now separated islands. Because of the events of the war we lost many live and much of our history, so we have friendly bouts amongst the Islands not as a sign of anger and hatred, but as a way to bring together those who are separated by the waters that surround us."

"Very good Kairi, you may have a seat." Mr. Dalton said happy his student had known the answer so well, "We'll get a chance to talk some more about that later on, but the fact that you all know this now is satisfying so as a treat, we'll be going out to the actual training area to meet Mr. Mason. I'm sure he's just as ready for you all to get there as you guys are.

…

"Welcome to your basic training for the upcoming tournament." The strict Mr. Mason yelled out.

While the Islands were a peaceful place, there were still dangers that many people faced, and many of those dangers were human related and could be very troublesome. While Sora, Riku and Kairi had lied about their story of pirate taking them in was false, there were actual pirates that roamed the waters and were a major safety hazard to one's life if not careful. That's where the Island Defense Force came in. A group of specially trained men and woman that would travel to all the islands and protect it with their lives, and Mr. Mason happened to be one of the few assigned to Destiny Islands.

"Five of you young people will be chosen to represent your school and Island in this tournament and who participates is decided here, but don't think that it's going to be easy for you to get a spot. This is your last chance to back out of the class and tournament entirely, but if you all happen to be staying, then welcome to the roughest couple of weeks you're ever going to see."

…

 **All right I'm going to cut it off right there so you all can be ready for some real action in the next chapter, so until then have a good week.**


	7. Fight!

A/N: Hey guys I know it's been awhile, but you won't accept excuses so instead I'll give you what ya want and hope you enjoy it.

"Alright then let's get started." Mr. Mason said walking to the table behind him and grabbing a clipboard with a list of names on it, "When I call your name, you will come up and tell me your choice weapon and style if you have one, you may then grab a wooden practice weapon from the assistants to the side pertaining to your weapon. First up . . ."

Slowly people began going up as they were called and then went to attain their practice weapons, it was slow going since there were close to fifty people who were vying for a chance to participate, or at least prepare for next year. When it came to Tidus, he chose a staff, Wakka of course chose a Blitzball, Riku went with a sword as well as Kairi, and so on and so forth till it got to Sora.

"Mr. . . Sora how do you pronounce your last name?" Mr. Mason said looking confused at the page.

"Sora is just fine sir." He said walking up to the imposing teacher. The man standing before him was a warrior through and through, he had military cut pale blonde hair over tanned skin pock marked with scars from skirmishes with who knows what, his sharp blue eye cut deep into you when he looked at you and was always seemingly in a scowl.

". . . Fine then, what's your weapon of choice?"

"Sword sir."

"Style?"

"Two handed, or dual."

"Short sword, long sword, etc."

"Long."

"Alright, go to the tables and grab two swords. You can choose later whether, or not to fight with two."

"Thank you sir."

Walking over to the assistant, the woman handed him two impressive wooden swords. The hilt was cut beautifully, and the sword itself was smooth cut edges that at first appeared to be sharp, but were in fact rounded to prevent actual cutting, along with the swords came two scabbards that could be adjusted to be worn on the waist or back.

"If only we had these kind of weapons as kids." Sora said joining his friends. It was funny looking at them all standing there, since the school made them all wear the same fighting outfit which was comprised of a white t-shirt and grey sweat pants, they all looked like some wannabe back up dancers to a boy band. But he had to wear them as well so there was no point in making fun of them, without getting backlash himself.

"No kidding, we could have avoided quite a bit of damage." Riku said wincing at the memories.

"The splinters!" Sora said shivering.

"Well that's what you get for fighting." Kairi said laughing to herself.

"You missed out on a lot." Sora said indignantly

"What splinters and bruises? Yeah I missed out on sooo much."

"Yeah well . . . whatever." Sora said giving up.

"Cole Schatten." Mr. Mason called.

"I wonder what he'll pick." Tidus said watching the big guy walk to the teacher. While the group couldn't hear what they were talking about, the expressions that appeared on Mr. Mason's face was enough to convey that he didn't agree with what Cole was telling him. The scowling expression deepened and deepened as they went back and forth on what weapon he was supposed to choose.

"What do you think he asked for to make Mason so ticked?" Wakka said looking as confused as everyone else.

"I don't know, but we might found out soon." Riku said as an angry looking Mr. Mason marched over to where everyone else was standing.

"Wakka! Tidus! Front and center!" the red faced Mason yelled to the two.

"Yes sir!"

Running up to the teacher, they waited as he talked to them for a moment and then pointed towards the practice arena out in the fields. The boys looked confused, but did as they were told and headed off, the teacher then marched back to Cole and pointed to where the other two had gone, and he too went off while everyone still standing looked confused as to what was going on.

"All of you that have yet to get a weapon will finish up with my assistant here and then head to the fields, everyone else will go there now on the double!"

Without question everyone ran off towards the practice arena outside, which as it turned out was actually the Blitzball arena prepared so that several people could fight and/or watch the fights as they proceeded. Running up to the sidelines, the group found Tidus and Wakka standing at the end of a circular platform set up in the middle of the field, and across from them was Cole standing there with a calm expression on his face.

"This here is our practice area. Every day you will all practice and have a chance to test your skills against someone else in the class here to see how you do against other types of weapons." Mr. Mason yelled marching to the middle of the platform. "Usually we wouldn't get into this until a little later in the week, but Mr. Schatten here seems to have a small issue. You see he seems to think he can fight just fine without a weapon even though you are required to wield something for the tournament. Now as impressive as it might be if he can defend himself here without a weapon, it is still against the rules, but Mr. Schatten believes in his skills so much that he says he could beat anyone I threw at him. So here we are, Cole Schatten vs. Tidus and Wakka."

"Mighty words from the new guy." Riku said leaning over to Sora.

"Yeah, but I think Mr. Mason is leaving out some sort of information." Sora said nodding.

"Like what?" Kairi asked.

"Like how Cole actually insulted him. It shouldn't be that big of a deal that he doesn't want to fight with a weapon, but he must have said something for Mr. Mason to set this up."

"Hmmm."

"COLE! Are you ready?!" Mr. Mason yelled out at the edge of the arena.

"Yes."

"TIDUS! WAKKA! Are you ready?!"

"Yes!"

"Then fight!"

…

Tidus made the first move as he ran towards, his staff held behind him to let him run faster, Cole stood in place getting into a low stance fists at the ready. Just before the two met, Tidus stopped and swung his staff up using the momentum of his run to swing it faster into Cole who met the staff by pushing it away instead of blocking it. Cole then made his move by making jabs at Tidus who jumped away from them with ease, and countered with the staff by smacking his arm after a missed jab.

"C'mon big guy you need to be quicker than this to beat me!" Tidus taunted as he stepped back and readied himself again.

Cole fell for the taunt and ran forward ready to smash into Tidus, only to have a Blitzball smash into him from his right side, knocking him away from his intended target and into the ground. The ball returned to a grinning Wakka who stood ready to throw another when Cole got up.

"Don't leave me out of all the fun." He said mischievously.

Backing away from his opponents, Cole readied himself again as the duo began to circle him, trying to draw his attention away from the other. Cole took his eyes off Wakka for a split second and that's all the boy needed, winding up he threw the ball with great velocity and smashed Cole on the side of his head, Wakka then ran towards his stunned target, catching the ball on its return, and smashed the ball into Cole's stomach. Unfortunately it wasn't over, unbeknownst to him Tidus was running up with his staff ready to strike, but instead he took out Cole's feet from under him making him crash to the ground

"Hurk!?" was all that came out of Cole's mouth as he choked from the powerful hits. It seemed like it would be over, but Cole recovered and rolled away from his opponents.

It was a dangerous duo, fighting against a close combat enemy and long range one was difficult enough, but these two definitely had a style that complemented them both when they fought together. As the fight continued, it would have Tidus make the initial attack and then have Wakka follow up with a powerful attack with the Blitzball split seconds after Tidus separated from Cole. The combination was brutal, but Cole was also a skilled fighter, showing his knowledge in blocking Tidus's attacks not by protecting his body, but instead guiding the staff away from him when it came in for the hit, but the Blitzball still proved to be a problem for him.

"This is awesome!" Sora whooped along with everyone else who was watching the fight, "I didn't think those two would get so good fighting together."

"Yeah, it's a dangerous combo that's for sure." Riku nodded, "But I don't think the fight has really started quite yet."

"What makes you say that?"

"Look at Cole's eyes."

Turning back to the fight, Sora focused on Cole who was currently jabbing at Tidus attempting to push him back, and took a closer look at his face. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him, but looking at his eyes did seem to throw him for a loop, instead of frustration that one might have in what seemed like a losing fight, he had a sharp look that said something else entirely.

"He's observing them." Sora said shocked.

"Exactly. He's not going headfirst into these two, he's watching them, learning how they fight."

"And when he's done?"

"Just watch and see."

Back to the fight, Tidus was coming back in for another barrage of attacks, this time starting off by doing a front flip to add to his attack. This time was different however. As the staff came down, instead of blocking the staff, Cole caught it before it hit his face, shocking everyone in the crowd. This also shocked Tidus as he attempted to pull away from Cole, only to find that he couldn't, as Cole kept a tight grip on his staff. The whistling sound of the Blitzball came from his left side as Wakka attempted to aid his friend, but instead of dodging this, Cole instead pulled Tidus close and swiveled him into the path of the oncoming Blitzball as a human shield. Tidus cried out in pain as the ball burrowed into his back, but managed to push away from Cole without his staff.

"You ok man?" Wakka called to his friend who was backing away.

"I'm fine." Tidus answered, wincing when he touched his back, "that hurt!"

"Well it was meant for him." Wakka called back with a chuckle.

Cole stood his ground looking at the two before him, in his hand was Tidus's staff looking small compared to his large from. Twirling it in his hand he looked contemplative, and then with a shrug he tossed it back to Tidus who looked at him confused.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked slowly picking it up.

"You're gonna want that." Cole said slyly.

"What, you gonna beat us?" Tidus mocked.

"Something like that."

"Take this!" Wakka yelled from behind Cole in a surprise attack. Jumping into the air, he threw the ball with all his strength in a power attack, but was surprised as Cole caught the ball midair and threw it back at its owner knocking him out of the air.

"Don't want it." Cole chuckled to himself as he watched Tidus run around to help his friend up.

"You good?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah, but that really hurt." Wakka groaned.

"Well don't worry that was only a small counter attack, we got him."

"Wanna go in for the kill."

"Yeah, let's finish it here and now."

Without any warning, the two ran at Cole yelling a battle cry as the charged at him. Running ahead Wakka threw his ball at Cole who easily knocked it back, only to have Tidus use his staff as a bat and smash it back into the unsuspecting Cole who took it in the chest. With Cole stunned again, Tidus used his staff to sweep his feet from under him, but instead of crashing to the ground, Cole caught himself and used the moment of his fall to back flip away. Cole wasn't looking to good when he landed, he had several bruises starting to form on his skin from all the hit he was taking, and he was sweating and breathing hard like there was no tomorrow.

"Let's finish this! One more time." Tidus yelled running at Cole again.

It did seem to be the end, the Duo was now running side by side ready to take their weary opponent out in one more hit. Cole didn't move, whether just from being worn out, or just not caring anymore he stood there open, not getting in a stance, or raising his fists to defend himself as the opponents closed in on him.

"This is it!" Kairi said excitedly as they drew closer.

"Yeah it is." Riku sighed, "But they're gonna lose."

"What? Ho-"

"ENOUGH!" Cole yelled.

And it happened. As Tidus and Wakka were readying their final attacks, they both wound up to add to the power and this one moment left them both open. As quick as a snake, Cole reached out with both hands and caught them both in the throat without warning, their feet coming out from under them as their upper bodies suddenly stopped. Using this to his advantage Cole smashed both his adversaries into the ground hard, and kept them pinned there by their throats. It couldn't have been two seconds, and now both Tidus and Wakka were on the ground trying to catch their breath, leaving everyone watching shocked as they were.

"Say I forfeit!" Cole yelled gripping the two by their neck, making them gasp for more air. The twos weapons had escaped their hands when they were slammed into the ground, and they both tried to reach for them desperately to have something to fight back, but Coles powerful arms kept them locked in place out of reach. "Say I forfeit!"

"Guh! N-NO!" Tidus yelled still trying to reach his weapon.

"If you don't I'm going to choke you till you pass out and can't fight anymore. so say I forfeit." Cole said more quietly getting in close.

Wakka was gasping more and more, his eyes bulging and veins straining as he tried to fight back, but they'd been smashed into the ground so hard he found himself slightly dizzy, and without oxygen he wasn't recovering. While Tidus was still fighting, he couldn't hold out for much longer.

"I . . . I forfeit." Wakka gasped out. And just like that Cole let him go, leaving him to wheeze on the ground and gasp for air.

"See your friend said it, now you all you have to do is say I forfeit as well."

"N-No." Tidus said more weakly.

Up in the stands, everyone was silent as they watched what was unfolding in front of them, knowing they couldn't interrupt. This was within the rules of fighting, but it was still a cruel thing to watch.

"This is sick." Kairi said disgusted.

"This is what the tournament will be like, things like this happen all the time." Riku said observing with sharp eyes.

"Doesn't change what it is."

"Doesn't mean I like it any less than you do, but we can do anything."

"If you won't than I-"Sora began as he took a step forward, only to be interrupted by a loud ringing sound. The fight bell.

"Times up, fights over!" Mr. Mason yelled as he ran back into the arena. Back to where Tidus and Cole were, Cole quickly let go of Tidus and took a knee by the boy.

"Take deep breathes." Cole said to the gasping boy, "calm yourself and steady your breath."

Nodding, Tidus followed his instructions and began to slowly regain his breath, Wakka following suit and soon both were breathing normally and sitting up.

"You boys alright." Mr. Mason said looking over them.

"We'll survive." Wakka said sweat dripping down his face, "Man you surprised us where did that come from?"

"You just have to watch and expect what your opponent will do next." Cole said to the two, "You both are a great combo, but you have a tendency to leave yourselves open when you ready an attack, so all I had to do was wait for a moment till both of you were close enough to make a move."

"Yeah, but did you have to choke so hard?" Tidus said trying to chuckle, but instead making himself cough.

"Now students, what you saw here should stay with you for the rest of training." Mr. Mason yelled out to the watching students, "Two skilled warriors were taken down by one unarmed individual. You should remember from now on not to underestimate anyone no matter what the circumstances; observe and watch instead of running at your opponent without any strategy. I'd like to thank Mr. Schatten here for volunteering for this earlier, I happened to run into him before class and he agreed to show us his skills in unarmed combat, which he did splendidly. But this also gave you the chance to see what a tournament battle can be like, it will be brutal, unforgiving, and harsh, so prepare yourself for a rough ride. Class is dismissed for the day."

…

As Mr. Mason walked away, the audience of students ran forward to meet with the tired fighters who still rested on the ground. As they reached them, the majority of people kept back a couple feet, either giving them space, or the intimidation that they were feeling as Cole stood up tall and triumphant in. After dusting himself of, Cole gave a hand to Tidus and Wakka and helped them both onto their feet.

"No hard feeling I hope." Cole said once they were both on their feet.

"No worries friend." Wakka said rubbing his neck.

"Yeah we're cool, that was a good fight." Tidus said, "But did I hear that right, you were helping Mason?"

"Yeah, I ran into him before our other class and he asked me to help him with his first lesson." Cole said shaking his head, "He also wanted to see how you two had progressed since you high probability candidates."

"Well that's great." Tidus sighed.

"Hey guys!" Sora greeted the group enthusiastically, "That was an awesome fight."

"You guys got really good." Riku said patting Wakka on the shoulder.

"Well not all of us can live as pirates; some of us have to train." Tidus said jokingly.

"Yeah whatever." Sora laughed back, "So Cole, where'd you learn to fight like that? I don't recognize that style of fighting from any of the islands."

"Hmm." Cole said looking thoughtfully, "Well you could say I taught myself, my family and I grew up in some rough areas and that's where I learned to watch my opponents. I've seen street brawls, boxing matches, martial arts practice, and underground fights, after a while I began practicing it all myself and learned to use it properly."

"You get in any real fights yourself?" Wakka asked.

"You could say I've been in a couple." Cole answered subconsciously scratching the side of his mouth were his scar was. "But enough if this, it's been a long day and I don't know about you, but I plan on spending the rest of the day relaxing somewhere other than the school."

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone gathered around them, and everyone headed back towards the school to leave their first day. All except Cole who said he need to speak Mason about getting an actual practice weapon for the tournament.

…

". . . So did you enjoy yourself?" Mr. Mason said walking up Cole as he tested out a wooden sword.

"It was stupid." Cole said tossing the wooden sword to the ground and marching up to Mason, "You know I thought it was kinda odd when the teacher started speaking a bunch of gibberish, and then low and behold I'm thrown into a battle for seemingly no purpose whatsoever."

"Oh don't be like that." Mason said grinning madly, so unlike what his demeanor should have been, "You enjoyed beating up two wimps who had no chance of beating you, Hell, you seemed to be having a blast choking them on the ground like that."

"Give back Mason, and leave me alone." Cole said getting up to the man's face, his eyes burning with rage.

"You know I can't do that. I'm your best friend remember."

"LEAVE NOW!" Cole yelled furiously.

". . . Better watch that temper friend, it shows your true features." Mr. Mason said, and then with a shudder his body fell to the ground.

Cole knelt down next to the fallen man as he waited for the man to stir and awaken.

"1, 2, 3." Cole counted to himself. And just like that, Mason woke up, startled to find himself lying on the ground.

"Wha? What happened, where am I?" Mr. Mason said trying to sit up.

"Hold on there sir." Cole said putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him down, "You slipped and fell while we were cleaning up and knocked yourself out for a bit."

"What? I did?" Mr. Mason said looking extremely confused, "the last thing I remember was assigning weapons and then . . ."

"You must have hit your head harder than I thought. We should get you a potion and see the school nurse." Cole said, standing up, "Wait right there and I'll be back in a second."

Striding away, Cole unveiled the anger he felt, his face twisting in anger and his fists clenching tightly. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to worry about any problems, but instead he had gotten one of the biggest problems of them all. Unbeknownst to him, a smile appeared on Mr. Mason's face as he lied there on the ground.

"Psyche."

 **Hey Guys, again I'm really sorry about the late release, hope to see you guys in the next chapter.**


	8. Revelations

**A/N: Hey guys, another day another chapter. Send in any thoughts you have on this, I want to know what you think, it helps me.**

…

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when Sora pulled his boat at the island's dock. The sun was just coming up over the horizon and the sea was calm with the wave quietly lapping at the sands barely making a sound while the birds began making their morning calls. Hopping onto the deck, Sora took a deep breath and stretched his arms high into air, prepping himself for the day of practice. Riku wasn't joining him today because he had decided to help his father with some work, and Kairi was going to do something with Selphie, so he was left to do things on his own for the day.

Today was what Sora had been waiting for all week since school had started and his week had been filled with work. For one he could wear his usual clothes, which were way better than his school outfit, and secondly he could practice using his Keyblade with Roxas out. Walking to the center of the beach, he took in a deep breath and summoned the Kingdom Key.

"Going old school?" Roxas said as his apparition appeared.

"Can't go wrong with a classic." Sora said spinning the blade around in a fanciful fashion.

"What's the schedule for today?" Roxas said taking a seat on the ground.

"Just the basics to keep me from getting rusty, nothing too fancy." Sora said taking a couple vertical swings.

"You practiced all week with a wooden sword, how is this going to keep you from getting rusty?"

"Well you know." Sora said pausing mid swing, "I guess I just feel a little better with it in my hand. I've had it with me for so long now it's kind of odd not having to pull it out every couple minutes."

"Phrasing."

"Shut up you know what I mean."

"Yeah I'm just messing with ya." Roxas laughed, "But you know man that you don't need it anymore, or at least you shouldn't."

"What do you mean?" Sora said stopping entirely and looking back to Roxas.

"I mean you saved the Worlds twice! Something that nobody else will be able to do."

"Until the darkness comes back, or another wack job comes for Kingdom Hearts." Sora said defensively, "I need to be ready for when the time comes to use my life for the better of the worlds and the people."

"And that will just add to our awesomeness, but man right now you are home!" Roxas said getting up and walking to Sora, "Right now you have a home with parents keeping a bed warm and a meal ready for you, friends that have your back, a school to learn from, a future for a life you didn't think you could have half a year ago, hell there's a girl here that would love it if you would ask her out."

"Hey-"

"Live YOUR life." Roxas said getting in Sora's face, "You have something that I will never have again, but I'm not complaining, so instead of preparing yourself for something that may or may not come, live your life for you. Not the worlds, not the Keyblade, just live for you."

". . . Yeah I guess, but-"

"Nope, no buts allowed."

". . . Phrasing?"

"That doesn't even work there."

"I tried at least."

"Yeah, but do you get what I'm saying man? You've helped so many people save their homes and their lives that it seems that like you don't remember how to live your own. I'm a part of you so I know this."

"I didn't ask to become a Keyblade wielder!" Sora yelled, "All I wanted to do was travel the worlds with my friends peacefully, and then we got sucked into this whole mess and I had to be the one to save everyone."

"And you did a great job."

"Did I!? There are probably thousands of people still trapped by the Heartless and Nobodies, bound to roam until the darkness wins, or their bodies fade into nothing. You and I have been in that abyss, I have dreamt of that time in the darkness and it still feels as bad as the day I was in it, even if it's just a dream. Those people are still living in that hell."

"And we will do what we can when we are able to! Don't think you are the only one that remembers that time in the void. I was born in it!" Roxas screamed back.

"So why can't I be ready to help them!"

"Because how can you help them if you can't even help yourself. We can't save them all, but you know what, we did our best. Ansem gave his life to help us, so don't forget that others have paid a much higher price than we have to get us where we are now."

"Don't think I don't remember what he did for us!"

"Then why do you keep fighting yourself?"

"I don't know!" Sora yelled throwing his Keyblade into the sand, "I just want everyone to be safe and happy like I am right now, and it bothers me that there are those still out there suffering while I go to school and hang out with friends."

"You can't save them all." Roxas said looking at the Keyblade, "So instead of moping about what you could've done, how about you go and hang out with your friends and family."

". . . . Fine you're right." Sora said finally giving in. As those words left his mouth, he felt a bit of the weight that had been nagging him for so long finally lift slightly. It wasn't gone, but at least he knew what he could do now.

"Thank you." Roxas sighed happily, "Whatever weighs down on you gets me to, so don't ever be afraid about talking about this stuff. We're brothers you and I, so remember that I aways have your back. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

"Alright." Sora said, "What's the plan then, I got up early to do this and now I have no purpose."

"Well how about you go back to the main island and find somebody hang out with when it's actually a reasonable time for a human being to be awake."

"Sounds like a plan, wish we had this talk before I got out here though."

"Yeah sorry I was asleep."

…

Finally reaching the main Island, Sora stowed his boat where everyone else did and began his trek back towards his house. While Roxas couldn't make himself known on the main Island, he could still make himself heard by anyone even if it was only meant for Sora, and it was because of this reason that Sora was stopped in the middle of his argument with Roxas.

"I'm telling you that it's an overrated series that deserves nothing." Roxas could be heard saying.

"And I'm saying you are only looking at the plot not the great action sequences that it has. Sometimes a good show only needs explosions."

"That's a load o-"

"Who ya talkin to?" a voice asked from behind Sora.

Jumping in surprise, Sora sprang forward almost knocking himself off balance when he landed and only just caught the landing. Standing behind smirking was Cole, dressed in what looked like a tourist's dream outfit, wearing an open Hawaiian shirt and baggy cargo shorts.

"You ok?" he laughed.

"You scared the crap out of me, where'd you come from?" Sora said wondering if Cole had heard him arguing with Roxas.

"You talking to yourself?"

"Yes, I was practicing what I was going to say to a friend of mine over the quality of a movie." Sora said quickly.

 _Good save!_ Roxas said happily.

 _That was close_ Sora sighed.

"Well I wish you luck on that, but is there any reason you're practicing this argument this early in the day?"

"Oh no! I had planned on practicing with my sword this morning, but I ended up changing my mind. So now I don't know what to do with my life right now."

"That good then." Cole said coming up and patting Sora on the back, motioning for him to follow, "I just finished my morning walk, so how about you join me for a drink at my place?"

"Uh, sure I guess."

Coming up to walk beside Cole, they talked about how their first weeks of class had been and what they felt about their training and whatever else came to mind. After the first days battle, the rest of the week had been a lot more simple, mostly sticking to checking the skills of everyone and getting everyone used to their weapons. Cole had ended up taking a two handed wooden long sword as his weapon of choice, though it was already obvious that he didn't need it, and had ended up practicing with Riku and him for the week.

"And here we are." Cole said waving his hands in a dramatic arc to showcase his home. While not being in the greatest shape, the house had a homely look to it and had a wonderful view of the ocean, and it sat farther away from the rest of the houses along the beach giving the occupants only peaceful silence.

"Take a seat here." Cole said pointing to one of the old rocking chairs that sat on the front porch, "I'll be back in a sec."

"Okay." Sora said carefully taking a seat in the creaky chair as Cole ran inside.

 _Nice guy_ Roxas said to Sora internally

 _Yeah he seems nice, but kinda pushy_

 _You're one to talk_

 _I'm not pushy_

"Here we are." Cole said coming out with two steaming glasses of some brown liquid and handing one to Sora.

"Tea?" Sora wondered taking a whiff.

"Nothing better than a glass of tea to get your morning started."

"What about coffee?"

"Overrated and unless it's black, I'm not ordering a Mocha Choco Bullshit from a store." Cole said taking a sip of his tea, while Sora choked on his trying not to laugh at the comment.

"Never heard it called that before."

"Yeah because a frappe Lato or whatever it's called makes so much more sense." Cole laughed, "But enough of that, I'm just happy the week is over so I can enjoy this."

"What?"

"The tea, the view, the sounds of the waves, a drink with a comrade in arms, what could be better."

And for a while they just sat there, watching the sea brighten as the sun rose of the horizon while sipping their tea. It was something that Sora had failed to appreciate till this moment, when he realized that he was feeling at peace. But it was destined to end as all peace does.

"Where did you learn to fight?" Cole asked Sora turning to him.

"Hmmm, my dad showed me some, but most of it came from fighting Riku, and hanging out with the pirates. What about you, you seem skilled."

"Same as you, friends and family." Cole said quietly, "My family believed in a more Spartan type training, but I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. Two years away from home, lost at sea and then taken in by pirates, must have been rough."

"Yeah, it wasn't the best time in the world, but it did make some friends and you got used to living like that after some time." Sora said thinking about what he'd been told to say in situations where he had to talk about what he'd been doing for the past two years, "I have to say I grew from it and it made me a better person."

"Good on ya, it's best to not wallow in that type dreg. But now you've got me curious, and I know that I'm not supposed to ask you, but how'd you guys escape from those pirates after being with them for two years."

Sora wasn't sure what he should do, he knew that he should just tell Cole that he didn't feel like telling him, but he was sure it wouldn't hurt to lie to the guy. And he knew the story they had made up so it wouldn't be an issue to talk about a little of it.

"Well . . . We were docked at this Island the pirates used as their base of operations, an Island that nobody could find unless with the right equipment. And Riku and I happened to be at the beach taking a rest when a bottle washes up on the shore; we open it and found a message from Kairi in it. After that we did our best to mark where we were based on what we knew on a map, and the next time we got into a port, we bribed a guy to send the map to the Islands and we just had to wait for help."

"But if you were in a port, why didn't you just bribe the guy to take you?"

"The only ports we ever went into were run by pirates and most were loyal to our captain and wouldn't even dare to betray him. Which as it turned out, the guy we bribed ended up just tossing our message into the sea and went about his business, it was a miracle that it even reached the Destiny Islands, and even more so in Kairi's hands and not some kids."

"Technically still a kid."

"Young adult, but besides that, she got her father's boat and sailed to save us. Yada yada yada, she came and got us in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep and we slipped away safe and sound."

"Just like that?" Cole asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just like that." Sora said.

Cole looked skeptical, it was unsettling having him stare into him with his dark eyes, and so Sora looked away sipping his tea.

"Well that was quite the heroic tale of escape." Cole finally said with slight sarcasm, but he didn't push any further and they went back to silence.

…

?

"Let's have some fun shall we."

…

"I think I'm gonna go now." Sora said finally putting down his empty cup and standing up.

"Alright then, it was good hanging with ya." Cole said getting up as well and shaking Sora's hand, "the day is still young so we might run into each other later.

"Yeah I'll pro-"

Clank Clank

The hair on Sora's neck rose at the noise that came from the tree line foliage by the deck, the unmistakable sound of a soldier clanking about, a Heartless. He was just about to jump into action and summon his Keyblade when he remembered that Cole was there with him; he couldn't risk Cole finding out about his Keyblade, but he also couldn't risk danger coming to the Island. The foliage ruffled more as the heartless moved about in it coming closer to the house and the porch. What to do!?

 _Roxas Distraction!_

 _Got it._

"Hey over here!" Roxas yelled from the other end of the porch, a projection of himself running around the corner making Cole look to see who yelled.

Making most of the moment, Sora hopped over the porch side and dove into the foliage to end the soldier. Once he was sure he was out of sight, Sora summoned Oathkeeper, and ran after the clanking noise of the soldier that was heading deeper into the trees. Dashing passed trees, Sora expertly dodged and weaved trees getting ever closer to his target who was slowly running out of area to run. If it didn't stop soon the soldier would run into the ocean and it would be . . .

As he reached the edge of the trees, he was blinded by the light of the rising sun, but soon found himself being flung back into a tree as something hit him hard.

Over

Standing at the edge of the trees stood a Guard Armor, between its legs stood the soldier that Sora had been chasing which promptly disappeared now that its job was over. It had drawn him here, weren't Heartless too stupid for that? Sora didn't have much time to think about it as the Guard Armor was winding up for another punch.

"Not this time!" Sora yelled and dodge rolled at the last second as his enemies fist came crashing in, knocking down the tree Sora was just at.

Hopping up, Sora assessed the situation. They were currently in a small clearing by the ocean, far away from the rest of civilization which was good, unfortunately the clearing wasn't that big and Sora didn't know what would happen if the Guard Armor went into the water. There was also the issue of not having any back up for this battle, Riku was in the middle of the ocean with his dad and Kairi would probably just be waking up now and wouldn't be fast enough to help. Hopefully Roxas was still keeping Cole distracted as to keep him from following him, but just in case he might want to finish this quickly if Cole ever did come in search for him.

"Let's finish this quick then!" Sora yelled jumping forward and slicing at the legs of the Armor.

The Guard Armor is a rather slow opponent that can be defeated easily if you know when to back away and attack, the only problem being that it's floating body and arms could suddenly attack out of nowhere if not careful, and if it jumped, it could cause damage to the surrounding area. But Sora wasn't worried about that, in fact he was hoping for it. It was a slow battle with Sora running in and attacking and then retreating when the armor came in close, he had battled these by himself before in the colosseum, but it had been a while since he'd fought one of these and the small area left him limited to where he could retreat to if the Armor attacked. As the battle ensued, Sora kept waiting for the one attack that he knew would turn the tide, but he needed to get the armor angry enough to actually do it, which require him to attack multiple times without getting to hurt himself. Just as he was about to run in for another attack, he saw what he'd been waiting for.

"Stupid."

The Guard Armor jumped up in down in a fit of rage, which in most cases would cause damage to the surrounding area and enemies, but that was on solid ground, sand would be a different story. The Armors feet slammed into the ground and sunk in deep, trapping the foe where he stood leaving only the upper body and arms free, making it an easy target for Sora. Running in, Sora began attacking the main body nonstop all while avoiding the flailing arms that tried to defend the main body.

"Fire!" Sora yelled as he jumped back to avoid an oncoming hit from one of the Armor's fists. The fireball that had grown from Sora's Keyblade rocketed off and destroyed the fist that would have hit Sora on his landing, on arm down, one to go.

Just as Sora was about to come in again for another strike, he noticed the Armor begin to quiver and shake in the ground while the surrounding ground also began to shake as well. The Armor was trying to escape in the only way it knew how, and that was to damage the way out by doing an underground spin move. Slowly but surely the Armor began to spin in a circle, the ground alongside it began to churn with it making a giant whirlpool of destruction sucking in the dirt and trees in the clearing, along with Sora as well. This turned out to be the game changer as Sora was tripped up and was unable to get back on his feet with the ground moving beneath him, slowly drawing closer to the epicenter of the swirling chaos.

"Damnit!" Sora cried out digging his Keyblade into the swirling ground. This managed to slow his closing in, but the Armor was spinning faster, sucking in things faster than before and gaining speed each second. To make matters worse, the hands were also spinning and were cutting trees like nothing when they came into a certain range.

 _Alright calm down and focus_

Just as he was thinking of what he might do, the ocean began to leak into the swirling pit of destruction, soaking Sora and making everything into a dirty soup. But this opened up the best opportunity for Sora.

"BLIZZAGA!" He called out casting the spell. His Keyblade, still embedded in the ground, became icy cold and steamed in the warm air as underneath the ground the ice spell froze everything. All around the water in the sand froze and the whirlpool jerked to a halt along with the spinning Guard Armor, leaving it to twitch and struggle as a thick ice layer formed all around it.

"Cold cold cold cold cold!" Sora cried out as he jumped away from the frozen ground, casting a fire spell in his hands to warm himself, "Why did you have to be so difficult?"

Yanking the Oathkeeper out of the frozen earth, Sora turned and strode toward the twitching Armor. It was kind of cool looking picture, the earth frozen and spun to center on the Guard Armor which jutted out of the ground as if it were about to jump out. The hands were frozen now as well having been soaked in the water and spinning to close to the ground, making cool frozen arcs in the air where it had splashed water. The only thing able to move freely now was its powerless head.

"I do believe this is my win." Sora said tapping the side of Guard Armor, something that probably no one had done and lived to tell the tale. The Guard Armor's head looked down and stared at him with what could only be described as a quiet rage, its body shaking in an attempt to escape. "Well I better do this before the sun warms you up."

Crack

"Hmm?"

Crack

"Not good!"

Sora was lifted into the air as one of the hands escaped its icy prison and smashed him into the other hand shattering it free as well and trapping Sora. While the feet an body were stuck good, Sora had miscalculated how frozen the hands were and had let himself get trapped into coming two close and being smashed between the two hands which were now crushing him.

"Can't we talk this out?" Sora gasped only to have the Armor squeeze him more, its eyes glowing triumphant.

Sora was in an odd position, his arms were crushed into an awkward angle that kept him from using his Keyblade and with the end pointed down he couldn't cast a spell. He could try to cast fire and have the flames surround him, but there was the chance it might melt the ice and free the rest of the body, not like he had the magic to cast it though; that last spell had spent him dry. Slowly the Guard Armor crushed him more and more, squeezing the air out of his lungs as he tried to think of an idea, but with the lack of oxygen it was growing harder to even do that. Would a summon work, did he have enough magic for that, or what about a thunder spell, or maybe a-

"YIPEE KI YAY MOTHERFUCKER!" Cole screamed as he came crashing into the Guard Armor's head, taking it with him as he landed and causing it to let go of Sora.

"COLE!?" Sora gasped in both for air and in surprise.

"Hey man, just thought I could help." Cole yelled as he bounced the angry head around the hands that were reaching back for its head.

"Wha-What!?"

"Do your job Keyblade wielder." Cole said giving him a serious look.

Sora was shocked, how did he know about his Keyblade, or what it was even called, or how he was a Keyblade wielder. But the situation wasn't getting better as the Guard Armor finally broke free from its ice prison and chased after its head which Cole was throwing around. Jumping up, Sora rushed forward and summoned the Oblivion Keyblade to which he threw into the distracted Armor's back causing it to creak in pain and spin around to grab the blade stuck in its back. Jumping onto its back, Sora pulled the blade out of his opponents back and jumped away as its hands slammed into its own back and Sora yet again tossed the blade into the back, this time impaling and trapping both hands into the back.

"Here you can have this back!" Cole yelled throwing the head into the Armors chest, setting it off balance and causing it to fall back.

And that was that, as the Armor crashed to the ground, the blade in its back was pushed to its core destroying it for good, making the hands disappeared, then the legs, and finally the shivering body, leaving only the head for some odd reason.

"Well that was interesting wasn't it" Cole said striding over to the head rolling on the ground and putting his foot on it.

". . . . ."

"Your jobs not done Keyblade wielder."

"Yeah I guess it isn't." Sora said walking over to Cole who stepped back and let him smash the head into the ground, setting free a heart that disappeared into the sky.

"I guess we're not done talking." Cole chuckled as he walked past, "How about we grab another glass of tea?"

…

 **And that's it for this chapter, send in those reviews and tell me what you guys think. See ya next chapter.**


	9. Thoughts

**A/N:** Hey guys another chapter for Y'all, send in your thoughts I like your opinions. Also a friend of mine told me of an idea about a Titanic and Kingdom Hearts crossover, I asked her why and she said it was perfect since Billy Zane was in both and I thought "well there is some connection and it would actually be kind of cool to read that" so if any of you know of somebody that's made that story message me the link. Alright here's the chapter.

…

The trudge back to Cole's house seemed to take longer than it should have, but that's what silence did to people when they weren't sure of the situation at hand. Cole was walking ahead of Sora who quietly followed, watching the back of his classmate a lot more now since he seemed to know what Sora was and what was actually going on. The air around him felt thin as he tried to think of what he should do in this situation, but nothing was coming to mind and he wasn't sure whether or not the person in front of him was a threat. Did he know about Riku and Kairi, or about the King and Yen Sid? And where was Roxas right now?

"Here we are." Cole said exiting the foliage back to the house, "How about we head inside."

"How about we-!" Sora started angrily before he was cut off by a firm look from Cole.

"Inside." He said with finality.

Walking up the steps, Cole held the door open for Sora who was hesitant to head inside, it looked homely inside, but it was unfamiliar territory and he was going in without knowing what was going to happen.

"It's just a normal house," Cole said shoving Sora through the door, "the only danger is its structural integrity."

Taking a tentative step inside, the entrance hallway was decorated with antiques and old photos, nothing too threatening; in fact it was very much like his own grandparents place. Walking further in, he found a living room with an old couch facing an open window with a great view of the ocean, in the corner there stood an ancient looking Grandfather clock surrounded by black and white photos. Even if all the old stuff in the house didn't signify that an older person lived here, the doilies that seemed to be on everything certainly did.

"Take a seat if you'd like." Cole said pointing to the couch, "I feel like we have a lot to talk about so I'd suggest doing so."

"Yes we do." Sora said taking a seat on the couch, and as he did he felt the presence of Roxas return to him.

 _What's happening, what did I miss?_ Roxas asked.

 _He knows I'm the Keyblade wielder_

 _WHAT!? How?_

 _He says he's going to explain it, but first I'd like to know why your distraction failed._

 _Dude it was him. He rounded the corner after me, you left and a couple seconds later he took off after you, I was yelling like Navi from Legend of Zelda, but he ignored me and kept on after you and I lost him soon after._

 _And you didn't think you should rejoin with me?_

 _I was lost in the woods, sorry I don't have find my complete self on my phone, oh wait, I don't have a phone because I can't use one._

 _Sheesh alright already._

"So should I go first, or would you?" Cole said pulling Sora out of his inner argument.

"You first, I'd like to know how you know about me? Are you really who you say you are? Stuff like that might make me feel a bit better about talking to you." Sora said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"Jeez what crawled up your butt." Cole said leaning against the far wall, "Um, let's see, well I guess I should start off by saying that I'm not your enemy. When this world was first swallowed by darkness I happened to be transported to a little place known as Traverse Town, how I got there is still a mystery to me, but I was there for a long time."

". . . . Go on." Sora urged when Cole paused for him.

"And when I got there, I was pretty disoriented, all I knew was that strange creatures had attacked me and now I was in a whole new place where things were odd and as far as I knew nobody I knew had made it out either. And that's where I learned about the Darkness, Heartless, and all that shebang about being refugees from worlds taken by the Heartless."

"But how'd you learn about me being a Keyblade wielder."

"Pfft, how many times do you think I saw you running around Traverse Town swinging that thing around, not to mention after you started saving other worlds from destruction your name started to spread. Plus Yuffie bragged about it in the bars and how she had trained you to be a killing machine."

"She didn't teach me squat!" Sora cried out at the audacity of his friend, but then remembered where he was and returned to attempting a cold stare.

"As we all figured, but we learned a lot about you and your travels through her and many of us were inspired by what you did. That's when I started to help fight as well, I knew I probably couldn't do much, but I needed to do something so I fought and got really good at. While I couldn't permanently get rid of them, I could at least make the horde smaller so we could sleep at night, and whenever you did what you did, I returned here, and that's pretty much it."

"So you're telling me that you were just another person that escaped this world and happened to end up in Traverse Town like myself."

"Correct."

"So you're just someone that got all mixed up in this and have no real connection to what I'm doing, and aren't trying to destroy my life as I know it?"

"Yep."

"And I'm sitting here in your home acting like a dick and thinking you're someone that you're not."

"That is also correct, depending on who you ask of course."

"Well, I'm sorry for being kinda of an ass." Sora sighed rubbing his temples

"You're fine," Cole laughed walking over to Sora now that a bit of trust had quietly reformed, "But now it's time for me to ask you a question."

"Wai-"

"Don't worry I only have one for you." Cole said reassuringly, "I just want to know, why do you keep what you've done a secret?"

". . . . . I kinda figured it was best if everyone didn't think I was a crazy person you know, I didn't think that ending up in the loony bin would be a great homecoming."

"Right, that wouldn't be fun."

"What did you say when you got back?"

"I didn't say nuthin'" Cole snorted, "I had the same thought as you, I just decided to act like I never left."

"Sucks doesn't it."

"Immensely."

Well at least Sora knew that he was in a similar situation to his own, which slightly made things better, but there was still a lot of questions that were left unanswered and there was the major issue of what he knew about Riku and Kairi.

"So about Riku and Kairi, will you-"

"All I know about those two, is what you told me earlier in your "Other" adventure." Cole said, making it obvious what he was hinting at and relieving Sora a bit more.

"Um, so would you mind not telling anybody about my secret?"

"Only if you don't tell mine." Cole said extending his out to Sora. "Shake on it?"

Sora looked at the hand, and then back at Cole, while there was still something that seemed off, he knew that there was no bad blood between them and that they could at least have some sort of trust. Standing up, Sora took his hand and shook, ending whatever tension was still in the air. "Gladly."

"Awesome." Cole said happily, "Well if that's settled how about we head into town and grab a bite, tense moments make me hungry."

…

While it had been quite the morning for Sora, it had only turned 9:00 A.M. when they left Cole's house, this left them with few options, but the local diner that most of the local fisherman went to before they shipped off. And it was also the place that Riku's mother happened to work at, so when Sora walked in the door, she was a little more than surprised to see him up this early.

"What in the world are you doing up this early on a Saturday?" She asked while she guided them to a booth. "And don't you lie to me, I've known you for years and you never get up this early."

"I got him up so we could train for the tournament a little more." Cole said as they reached the booth, "Though I think the hardest training I did was trying to wake him up."

"He's never been the morning person." Riku's mother laughed, "By the way, I don't think I've seen you here before, are you new to the island?"

"Yes I am ma'am I'm new here, my names Cole Schatten."

"Well I'm Sara, if you know Sora that probably means you know my son Riku," Sara said handing them menus.

"Yes, we all actually plan on being in the tournament together."

"I hope you all are keeping up with your studies." Sara said eyeing Sora.

"School only just started, we don't need to worry too much right now." Sora said exasperated.

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your studies up."

"Yes Ma'am. Can I have Orange juice?"

"And can I have some tea, sweetened?"

"One orange juice and a sweet tea coming right up."

As Riku's mother walked away, Sora pondered on what he should have and what else he should ask Cole. While their conversation at his house had concluded that he wasn't an enemy, there were still a ton of questions that needed to be answered, and then there was the concern on if he should notify anyone else that Cole was aware of their situation. It was a lot to think about and he wasn't sure where to start, luckily he didn't have to.

"So what are your thoughts on Kingdom Hearts?" Cole asked as he starred at his menu.

". . . What do you mean?"

"I mean what do you think about the whole thing that caused this trouble in the first place? Why is it really that important to these guys that go after it?"

"Well Ansem, I mean the fake Ansem, was in it for destruction mostly and the power of the heart of all worlds, but in the end the light within it destroyed him. And there was also another group that was after it for other reasons, but you probably don't know who they were and we can't really talk about it here."

"Maybe another time then. But that just makes me wonder even more about this mysterious place, and why so many people want it, it just seems like something like that is too powerful for its own good."

"Well if nut jobs keep going after I'm going to have to agree with you on that." Sora said thinking back to his adventures, "But with all the problems it has caused, I got to travel entire worlds and meet tons of new people and make even more friends than I could have imagined. I'm gonna miss them, but we'll meet again someday I know it."

Cole was about to say something, but before he could Riku's mother came back with their drinks and took their orders. When she left again, Cole seemingly forgot what he was going to say and shrugged when Sora asked him, and they both ended up talking about the types of Heartless that were a pain to get rid of, and they ended up talking about it all through their meal and even longer after their plates were taken away. It was then that Sora realized that he needed something like this, someone who he could talk to about this stuff and not have a direct link to the problem itself. He wouldn't want to bring this up in front of Riku since he got a little sulky whenever it was brought up, and he really didn't feel like brining Kairi into a conversation like this, so finding someone who was somewhat of an outsider to it felt refreshing.

"And when I finally killed the thing, my clothes were so cut up I was practically standing in Second District naked." Cole said as he and Sora laughed to themselves, "I have to say it sure shocked Aerith when she turned around and saw me."

"Ha ha, thank you magically enhanced clothes." Sora said pulling at his clothes.

"Yeah we can't all be bestowed with non-tearing clothing." Cole sighed, "Well as fun as this morning was Sora, I feel like I've been taking up the better portion of your Saturday morning, so I'd better take off."

"No man you're fine, I enjoyed it even under the circumstances. Actually if you want to, Riku and I were planning on training in the mornings and you can join us if you'd like."

"Sure I'd be up for that." Cole said and then looking around to see if they were fine, "one more thing, if there happen to be anymore Heartless around I'll give you a heads up. Just do the same for me.

"I Gotcha."

Seeming Satisfied, Cole finished his drink and got up from the booth, and then looking past Sora, he grinned madly and patted Sora on the shoulder, "Well if you happen to be running around town I might see you later, but for now it looks like you're going to have your hand full for a while."

"What?" Sora said before looking behind him to see Kairi walking into the Diner, and spot him.

"You can enjoy talking to someone much prettier than me." Cole said before sauntering past and giving a hello to Kairi before he left.

…

 **Hey sorry for the late entry, school's been rough on me lately and there was a lot of things happening in my life so I hope you can forgive me for the lateness. Plus this chapter was harder for me to write for some reason, but that happens and you just gotta push through it. See ya next chapter.**


	10. Getting serious

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter is coming to you so late, with the combination of finals work and other miscellaneous things I didn't have a lot of time to focus on this. But now that I'm back, I can't say how excited I am to get back to writing, I just watched the new Star Wars movie and it has helped me to push forward with my story now that my imagination is revamped. Also a shout out to the person who told me about the Kingdom Hearts/ Titanic crossover, you are awesome, and for those who also might want to read it I'll put a link at the bottom. Well, here's the new chapter. Enjoy.**

…

Sora and Kairi pulled into the dock at their island just as the sun peaked for the day, giving the day a nice warm heat cooled by the sea breeze coming in. The old planks creaked as they walked across them and the sand crunched with a familiar feel beneath their shoes as they crossed the beach to the shack that led to the Paopu tree. The wind gently blew the waves and the trees calmingly, as if what happened this morning had never happened and the peace had continued on. But that wasn't true.

"So there really was a Heartless on the island?" Kairi asked looking to Sora.

"Yeah, and a powerful one to boot." He answered as he helped Kairi onto the tree and then hopped on himself. He didn't mention Cole as he promised, but he knew that it might come up in the future, "I'm going to contact Yen Sid whenever Riku gets back, and we'll figure out if there's anything we should be worried about."

"Hmmm." Kairi said swinging her feet and looking to the sea, "Will you . . . no never mind"

"Will I what?"

"Nothing, I had a question, but I decided I wouldn't have to worry about the answer."

"What was the question?"

"Well, I was going to ask if you two might have to leave. But then I remembered, if you two are leaving then I'm coming with you!"

"Wait what? Whoever said we'd be leaving." Sora exclaimed.

"You didn't have to, whenever there's trouble you're bound to go and help those in need, and that means you're probably going to leave." Kairi said looking to the sea, avoiding his gaze, "And this time when you do, you're not going to leave me behind."

 _She's got a point you know_ Roxas said to him internally

 _Coming from the guy who convinced me this morning I didn't have to fight anymore_ Sora retorted

Looking up at the Paopu tree, Sora thought deeply about what she'd said and what it meant. He knew that there was the possibility of them having to go fight the Heartless or the Nobodies again, but he never imagined it would be so soon. But maybe he was overthinking it, maybe this was just the remnants of the leaders who had strove to extinguish the light and they were just attracted to the Keyblade in fear as usual. But then that would mean that Destiny Islands would be in danger of being overrun with Heartless and possibly even Nobodies, he didn't want that. He wouldn't let that happen.

"Kairi, if Riku and I have to leave to fight off the darkness then you can join us. But the dangers that follows are the burdens we have chosen to bear, and I would never want that for you."

"I don't care about that! You two have been fighting for so long now that it's unfair not only to you, but to me as well, I was so sure that I had lost my best friends that when I found you guys I would have done anything to keep you with me. I spent my time here, now it's my turn to go out there with you if things go wrong."

"And if I lose you!? What then?"

"You won't!" Kairi yelled at him, "But you might if you leave me here to be the worried girl wondering if she'll hear from her guy, or if she'll hear from someone else that he's not coming back this time. I pulled you back from the darkness and I don't plan on losing you to it again." She said looking up to the branches of the Paopu tree.

Jumping up, she grabbed one of the two Paopu fruit the tree had grown and plucked it from the tree. Hooping of the trunk, she grabbed Sora and pulled him along behind her.

"Come with me." She said angrily, "I was planning on doing this when all three of us had a chance, but I need to prove a point now."

Pulling the confused Sora along, she marched him through the shack and down the stairs back out to the beach, where she turned toward the waterfall, and proceeded to pulled him that way with her.

"Are we going-?" He started before a sharp glare from Kairi cut him off.

Marching past the waterfall, they ducked under the vines of the tree and entered the tunnel of the secret place, which also led to the Keyhole of the world. The tunnel slowly opened into a small cave with the wall scratch doodled with tons of markings and other oddities that any discoverer of the secret place had drawn. And there at the end of the cave was a small unassuming brown door with gold engravings, this also happened to be the most important door in the world. While this had been a place of utmost importance, Sora had kept his distance from the cave, it brought up the memories of the start of his journey, a time he'd rather forget.

"This was your job." Kairi said letting him go to stand and face the door, "but now it can also be mine, all you have to do is let me stand on equal ground."

Gesturing to the wall to her right, Sora looked to see the pictures that they had drawn of each other, along with him giving her a Paopu fruit, and a newly added feature of her giving him one as well. Walking over, he knelt down and looked closer trying to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"Did you do this?"

"I did." Kairi said walking up to him, and pulling him back up to face her, "While the legend this fruit bears is fictional to a lot of people, I believe that it's true. So if we both share one, our Destinies will be intertwined forever and you'll never have to worry about me and I'll never have to worry about you."

"How?"

Bringing up the Paopu fruit up, she took his hand and placed it on the fruit as well, "Because no matter what we go through together, at least we're doing in together and not alone."

". . . You're right." Sora sighed giving into her words, "Then do you swear by this fruit of destiny to keep your promise and fight the darkness together with me."

"I swear." She answered happily.

Taking Sora's hand, Kairi took the first bite of the fruit. The sweetness of the fruit threw her off as she expected a more tart taste, but instead she found the most fantastic taste she's ever had. She then handed the fruit to Sora who also took a bite, and judging from his expression, also found the taste to be something special. And it was done.

"Well that was tasty." Sora said holding the partially eaten fruit in his hand, "Do you think we have to eat it all for it to be proper, or is it fine like this."

"I think its fine." Kairi laughed.

"Oh yeah we think its fine as well." Roxas said from behind them. Turning the two were shocked to see Roxas and Namine sitting in the corner of the cave smirking at them.

"I never thought I'd see the day." Namine said wiping a fake tear.

"Those were some heart wrenching words there, whenever somebody writes about this moment in the future, the readers will think its some form of cheesy Fanfiction." Roxas laughed.

"How long have you been there!?" Sora exclaimed.

"Dude we're technically one being in some weird way, I'm always with you."

"I'm so proud of you two." Namine said jumping up and running over to them, "I really am happy you guys did this."

"I am as well, but I kinda thought that it would almost be a bit flashier." Roxas said joining them.

"Were you expecting a light show or something?" Sora sighed.

And as if on cue, there was a small flash from Sora's hand as the Paopu began to glow. It was low at first, but ever so slowly it began to glow brighter and softly float from Sora's hand towards the door which began to glow as well. Slowly the light of the fruit unraveled and streams of light connected to the door and the rest of the cave making all of the scratching light up.

"Sora what's happening?" Kairi asked pulling him close.

"I don't know." He said astounded.

As the light spread throughout the cave, it also enveloped them in its warm embrace filling them with a warm and friendly feeling that reminded them of their happiest memories. And then just as it had appeared, it began to disperse and return to the door, leaving only a small white coil of light wrapped around their held hands. Then there was nothing, leaving the lit cave to return to only dim light and confused teenagers.

" . . . So that happened." Sora said ending the silence.

"That is some magical fruit." Roxas said.

"You happy now."

"Yes."

"I guess we were fine taking only one bite, the rest becomes a magical light show that wraps people up." Kairi said walking to the door and running a hand down it.

"Hey guys come check this out!" Namine called to them.

Walking over to where she was pointing, they found the doodle that Sora and Kairi had drawn was now inlaid with gold instead of white. And now in the middle of them was a perfect imprint of Paopu fruit that proudly stood out from the drawing.

"Why do people think this fruits power is fictional, it just made your drawing gold." Roxas said awed.

"Maybe it because we're special." Sora said.

"Maybe it's because we were actually serious about it." Kairi said feeling the drawings, "Most of the people who came out here and eat from the fruit did it either on a dare or were just trying to be stupid about it."

"That makes this so much more romantic." Namine chimed in making Sora and Kairi extremely embarrassed.

"Well it's done!" Sora said trying to push the subject, "Why don't we go outside and enjoy the rest of our day."

As if fate had planned to mess with them more, the cave began to shake violently, throwing the two to the ground and confusing the ghostly ones.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Sora said jumping to his feet and helping Kairi up.

"Is the magic fruit doing this as well?" Roxas asked.

"No I'm positive this is something else." Kairi said running out of the cave.

…

Running back out into the open, the four teens found the rest of the island shaking and the waves crashing harder into the beach than usual.

"This a natural earthquake, or?" Roxas asked only to find a dozen or so Heartless appear, "Or, got it."

Drawing the Oblivion blade, Sora tossed it to Kairi and summoned the Fenrir blade for himself.

"That'll kill them quicker!" he yelled as he ran into the fray cutting down Heartless along the way.

"Got it!" She yelled back as she dodged a strike from a soldier.

The few Heartless that were there quickly disappeared as the two fought through them. While Sora was more experienced and dealt with them swiftly, Kairi was also showing the results of her training and took down quite a few herself. The last one evaporated as Sora blasted it with lighting and watched the Heart fade into the sky. But that didn't mean their troubles were over.

"The ground's still shaking and I bet that there's more of them on the main island." Kairi said walking back to Sora.

"Right, we need to head back now and get ahold of Riku along the way."

"I think he's headed towards us." Kairi said gesturing to the sea.

Sure enough, there was a fishing boat sailing towards them, and at the helm was Riku's father with Riku at the bow of the ship. As the ship pulled into the dock, Riku hopped off and kept a hand on it while they ran up to him.

"We need to get to the main island now!" Sora huffed as he ran past and hopped into the boat.

"What's happening? I felt the Darkness appear as we sailed by." Riku asked as he helped Kairi into the boat.

"We're not sure ourselves, but I might have an idea of what's going on." Sora said helping Riku in while he pushed the boat off the dock.

"An idea?"

"Son what's going on!?" Riku's father asked concerned.

"My job is what's going on, we need to hurry to the island and make sure everyone's safe."

"Alright." His father said turning the boat towards the main Island.

The day was turning into something else for Sora, this morning he accepted he'd slow down on his duties, and now it looked like he more work headed his way. The waters were choppy as they sailed back home, and the wind was slowly picking up as well bringing in dark clouds on the horizon. And as they drew closer, a high pitched alarm sounded across the waters, alerting citizens and incoming sailors of danger.

"That's the raid siren for pirates." Kairi exclaimed.

"I doubt the Island defense force has an emergency siren for Heartless." Riku pointed out as a black plume of smoke arose from somewhere on the island, "and it looks like things are getting worse."

"Alright we need a plan of action." Sora said grabbing his friends attention, "Riku, grab your mom and anyone you see and send them towards the docks, they'll be safer if we load them on boats and get them out of the action. Kairi and I will grab her father and my parents and do the same. Once they're at the docks we'll start fighting off them off while everyone sets off."

"I'll contact the King and Master Yen Sid as well." Riku said pulling out his special communicator.

"Wouldn't it be better if we split up, that way we could get more people?" Kairi asked looking to Sora.

Sora hesitated at first, but nodded in agreement, "Yeah just be careful ok."

"Don't worry, I've been trained by the best." She said proudly.

"Alright kids we're here." Riku's father said as they pulled into the docks, "I'll keep the boat ready for people and will get the other sailors to help out as well."

"Thanks dad!" Riku yelled as he and the others jumped out and onto the docks.

Things were already looking grim when they were on the way, but now the full scope of what was happening opened up as they reached where the docks began. People were already making their way to their position and they didn't look to be in great shape, many had scratches and bruised while others had to be carried by whoever was helping them. In the distance you could hear the cries of people as they were attacked by mysterious forces they didn't know, some of those cries were cut short. One of the survivors that passed them was crying about a little dark creature that had attacked her, and that confirmed their worst fears. Heartless were attacking Destiny Island.

…

Kairi ran as fast as she could towards her house along the beach, helping people that stumbled out of the roads from town and directing them to the docks like she was told. There wasn't much commotion along the beach, only one or two Heartless crossed her path, but other than that were scared people. As she got closer to her house, she saw a crowd of people outside her home and father the Mayor trying to calm them down.

"Dad!" She yelled as she got closer.

Turning, a relieved look crossed his face as he met her and gave her a hug, "Thank goodness you're alright."

"Yes I'm fine, dad what are all these people doing here?"

"I'm the Mayor, they all came to me for guidance and protection and I've been doing the best I can, but I don't know what exactly is going on."

"It's the Heartless, I don't know why, but they're attacking, and now we need to get these people to the docks where we can take them to safety."

"All right I'll- LOOK OUT!"

Kairi felt the presence before she saw it, and with a quick backwards slash, she sliced a shadow in half before it could hurt her. Turning back, the people behind her father gazed wide eyed at Keyblade she had summoned, but there was no time for explanations.

"So much for secrecy." She mumbled under her breath, "Alright we need to head to the docks, the boats there are going to take us where it's safer, I'll be your guide along the way!"

…

Sprinting down Mains street, Riku was caught up in many different battles with Heartless who seemed to be causing all sorts of damage to everything in sight. As he was running past another group of struggle people, he quickly stopped when he heard the sound of fighting coming around the corner, more trouble. As it turned out, the smoke they had seen in the distance, was from the library, which had most likely caught flame from one of the more fiery types of Heartless. The people outside had been surrounded when he arrived and he was able to save them all quickly before anybody got hurt.

"Is anybody still in the building!?" he yelled over the roar of the flames.

"I don't think so." One of the people answered, just then there was a cry for help from inside the not so empty burning building. More trouble.

"I'm going in, do you guys think you can get to the docks by yourselves?"

"We'll be fine." Said a man who turned out to be Mr. Dalton wielding a pocket knife, "You get out of there safe now, we just got you back, we don't need to lose you again!"

"Yes sir." Riku yelled as he cast and Aero spell around him and charged through the front door.

The flames around him burned wildly as they touched everything they could to grow stronger and spread farther. The old building had caught easily, and sure enough Riku found a couple enemies which were the source of the flames, and dispatched them quickly. Though the Aero spell worked well to keep him safe from the flames and smoke, he could still feel the intense heat, and the instability of the building. Listening closely, he again heard the cry for help coming from one of the rooms in the back which wasn't as damaged as the rest of the building. Running up, the first door he kicked open led to an empty room, the second was the jackpot finding a girl his age huddled and scared in the back corner.

"Hey I'm here to help!" he yelled as he got closer, startling the girl who had seemingly given up.

"Please help, my wheel chair was hit by one of those things and it broke! I tried to crawl out, but they blocked the exit!"

"Don't worry I took care of them!" Riku said lifting the girl up, "Close your eyes."

Running out the door, he cast another Aero spell around them, and sprinted to the front of the building as fast as he could. He could feel the building begin to collapse and sure enough the ceiling behind him gave way, and then the rest of the building collapsed just as he flew out of the window. The loud crash was followed by a wave of dust as the rubble spread around them, the Aero spell pushing away anything that touched it's radius. Breathing heavily, Riku walked over the rubble in his way and towards a bench where he could the girl down for a moment.

"Thank you so much." The girl said through tears, either from the smoke or from emotion.

"Anytime." Riku huffed. He was in a conundrum, he still needed to help his mom at the diner, but there was no way he could leave this girl here. He would either have to take her back to the docks himself, hope a group came by to take her, or he would have to bring her along. He didn't have enough time to sit around and wait for a group, and he couldn't back track without fear for the worst.

"Alright, we need to get you more mobile." He said as he motioned to pick her up again, "There might be a cart or something we can put you on in the diner."

"Why are we headed there?"

"I need to make sure my family gets to safety, and I still need to get anybody I can to the docks, if I take you back there's the risk of more people getting hurt."

"What about the IDF, can't they help us?"

"They're probably a bit short handed right now," Riku huffed as he started to carry her again, "plus they've never fought an enemy like this before."

 _And there might not be any more Island Defense force fighters left_ he thought to himself.

…

"Mom!? Dad!?" Sora yelled as he ran through the front door of his home.

The neighborhoods were a mess when Sora arrived, he had been fighting non-stop and the people he ran into were almost too terrified to listen to him, it had been a miracle he had gotten all of them headed in the right direction safely. But he was also surprised to find people fighting back, many were wielding kitchen knives, or gardening equipment, but he'd even seen a gun and a couple of swords. He'd even seen the old man at the corner of his block fighting off a group of shadows with a shotgun, somewhat successfully. But now that he was home the only thoughts on his mind were his parent's whereabouts.

"Sora?" the soft voice of his mother said from the kitchen.

"Thank the god your safe." He said running in and giving her a hug, "Where's dad?"

"Right here son." His father said walking out of the hallway with a spear and a handgun in hand.

"Is that?"

"My old IDF weapon, yes it is." He said proudly swinging it in the air in a fancy manner. While Sora's dad was a fisherman now, he had been on the IDF force for several years before he retired to a simpler lifestyle. But that didn't mean he didn't keep up old habits.

"Alright, we need to get you and anybody else we can to the docks, we've got people heading there already and we're loading them on boats to get out of here.

"Are these the Heartless you were talking about?" his mother said grabbing a small bag of things.

"Yes, and there's a lot of them, that's why we need to get go and get dads boat ready to ship off people."

"And what about you?"

"I'm going to fight these things off and make sure everyone gets away safely. Dad I need you to help defend the docks while people are being loaded."

"Alright, you be careful ya hear!" his dad said giving him a hug.

"Come back safe." His mom said doing the same thing.

"I'll do my best."

…

"Mason!" Cole yelled as he sprinted across the field towards his instructor who stood calmly overlooking the chaos in town.

"Can I help you?" he said giving him a nonchalant glance.

"I'm guessing you're the one behind this." The angry teen said as he reached the man in front of him.

"Why whatever do you mean? I'm only a fighting instructor."

"Cut the crap you freak, you never left this man's body like I told you to. You were pushing your limits with that surprised this morning, and now you've made me really angry."

"And what are you going to do about it?" the man laughed, a glimmer of the presence controlling him flashing through his eyes.

"What I should've done, in the first place."

The air around the two grew cold, the grass at Cole's feet slowly faded yellow and the aura around him seemed to darken. Ever so slowly, Cole's right hand changed from regular skin, into a dark claw of darkness with long talons and a menacing presence. The darkness reached all the way to his shoulder and the white in his eyes changed to black and his iris yellow. Talking a step forward, the opponent in front of him stepped back, a bead of sweat rolling down his brow.

"You wouldn't hurt this man, I know what you plan to do, but I know you're not skilled enough to do it." he said, the fear in his voice clear as day.

"Don't worry, I've been practicing since the last time we met, I'm a lot better than before." He said reaching forward with his dark hand.

"No! Stay back!" the man yelled only to be cut short as the dark hand suddenly plunged into his chest making him choke and gasp for air. He looked down in disbelief, not knowing what he should do. Slowly the hand began to began to pull back out and held a small dark purple ball with a small face in its grip, the body of Mr. Mason falling back as the presence completely exited his body, hitting the ground with a thud.

"You're only copy of your Master aren't you." Cole said looking disdainfully at the creature in his hands.

"I swear I had nothing to do with this, honest!" the creature begged looking pitiful in the open air.

"Hmmm, ok I'll believe you."

The creature sighed in relief.

"But I'm still going to kill you." Cole said as he crushed the creature in his hand, the darkness evaporating in a small cloud.

A moan from the ground alerted Cole back to Mason on the ground, who was thankfully still alive. Sending the Darkness away, Cole knelt down and helped the man sit up.

"What happened?" Mason asked confused and dazed.

"We came under attack sir, I found you out here in the field." Cole lied smoothly.

"Who's attacking?"

"Something dangerous sir, something dangerous."

…

 **Alright guys, again I'm sorry about how late this chapter was, but I'm glad to be back in action. Send in your thoughts on the chapter, tell me if there's any crazy grammatical errors, or if something didn't read right and I'll fix it. I wish you a happy holiday, and a happy new year. See ya in the next chapter.** : / / m . fanfiction s / 6468589 / 1 / Titanic-Kingdom-Hearts


	11. Battle for Destiny part 1

**A/N: Hey guys, I have to say I've been really excited to write this chapter, it's been boiling in my head for a while now and I can finally write it. I hope you all will enjoy this as much as I do. Here ya go.**

…

The docks were mess when Kairi finally arrived with her group, there were hundreds of people still waiting to get on a boat and the crowded decks made it hard for any kindof organization as people shoved and forced their way onto any boat there was. The people didn't seem to care about anyone else as they shoved their way through, andwith the docks overcrowded some fell off and either tried to get back on, or just started swimming for a boat in the distance. Looking out to the sea one would see plenty of boat sailing a safe distance away filled with distraught passengers as they watched their home fall to some creatures they didn't even know about, but they were safe at least. Running up to the docks, Kairi saw Riku's father standing on a crate trying to direct people as best as he could into boats and directing boats that were arriving to help load people, but he was obviously having trouble and the distressed people around him weren't helping the situation. Looking back there were only more people arriving from the devastation and horror of the town, and with so many people packed here there were bound to be Heartless arriving soon and to them it would be an all you can eat buffet.

"We need help get this under control," Kairi said to her father as she ran back to the group, "there's too many people for Riku's father to handle alone, and I'm worried theHeartless will attack here soon."

Her father nodded, "I'll go help and see if we can start loading people quicker and safer. You go and do what you need to."

"Right." She said, but before she could run off, her father grabbed her hand and gave her a hard look.

"You be careful now." He told her sternly.

"I will." She said giving him a quick hug before running off towards the town.

Once she reached the road, she began to scan the perimeter for any sign of Heartless or any other danger she could see. With nothing in sight yet, she summoned her Destiny's Embrace and planted it in the ground in front of her, making sure to stand tall and proud.

"They will not get past me!" She proclaimed to herself.

 _They will not get past us._ Namine said, her image appeared next to her.

…

Riku kicked the diner door open as he rushed in and quickly set the girl down on the floor so he could barricade the door from all the Heartless of their tail. It was a mess outside, and it was only getting worse with the fires that were starting to spread from library to the rest of the town. When the two had left the library it had been relatively quiet, but the moment they hit Main Street they had immediately been attacked by a dozen or so Heartless, and with Riku unable to fight the only option had been to run as fast as he could with the girl in hand. And now as he pushed one of the booths against the door, four Knight simultaneously banged against the door as they rushed afterhim, causing the door to give a bit before he pushed it back with a grunt.

"What are we going to do!" the girl said frantically as the Heartless rushed the door again. Riku quickly shushed her and held fast to the door, keeping it in place as Heartless pushed against it with their combined force. After a couple more tries from the Heartless, it grew quiet as the shoving stopped and they eventually wandered off somewhere else to cause mayhem, leaving Riku and the girl to sigh in relief.

"Well at least they're too stupid to keep trying." Riku huffed as he leaned back against the door to catch his breathe..

"Thankfully." The girl said pulling herself up into a booth.

Standing up, Riku dusted himself off and made sure the door was secure before he got a good look at the diner. Everything seemed to be the same, but the lack of people made the room eerily quiet and the chaos outside added to the creepy vibe he was getting. There was no sign of his mother as far as he could tell, which could've been either good or bad, and the lack of a gun under the counter made it clear that people had been here and had defended themselves. The question was where were they were now?

"This feels like it came right out of a zombie apocalypse." The girl shivered as she peered around from her booth.

"I don't know whether the situation would be better or worse now if it were zombies out there, "Riku mumbled checking all under the counter for the only thing he could think of to confirm his mother's safety. Feeling a bit more for it, he finally reached the spot lacking the key that should've been there, "Bingo."

Going to the Kitchen, he went to the back corner by the grill to find the tiled floor that was slightly off from the rest of the pattern. Getting on his hands and knees, he banged on the hidden door once, stopped, banged three more times, stopped, banged twice and waited. A couple seconds passed before the hidden door flew open and Riku came face to face with the barrel of the shotgun that was missing from under the counter.

"Woah woah, it's only me!" he yelled jumping back.

His mother's head poked out from behind the gun, a stressed look in her eyes, "Riku?"

"Yeah it's me." He sighed relieved to see her safe. Pulling her out of the hidden panic room, he hugged her tightly relieved she was safe and even more so when he saw more people poke their heads out from the hidden room, "you were protecting these people?"

"Of course I was," she huffed, "I was just serving the Hammonds their coffee when all hell broke loose outside, so I rushed everyone in here, grabbed my gun, and waited for you or your father to show up. Is it Pirates?"

Riku snorted, "I wish it was, at least they're easier to handle than the Heartless."

"Well whatever the case we need to get these people out of here." His mother said helping an older gentleman out of the panic room, "is there a plan?"

"Yeah I'll explain it once we get everyone out, but I need something that can carry someone."

"What do you mean?"

Walking back out into the dining area, he found the girl sitting quietly watching the chaos continue outside as Heartless ran by and the fire spread from building to building. She jumped when he placed a hand on her shoulder, sighing in relief when she saw it was only him and let him pick her up again and take her to the kitchen. Walking past everyone, he sat her on a counter and began helping the rest of the people get organized so he could tell them the plan.

"Who is this Riku?" his mother asked when he walked away from the girl.

Looking back to the girl, Riku could only shrug. "Um?"

"It's Ferra." the girl piped in when she saw the dilemma, "he saved me from a burning building, and there wasn't much time to get to know one another when the Heartless started chasing us."

"And the Heartless broke her wheelchair." Riku said pulling a food cart from the back, "so we need a way for me to defend you guys while we head to the docks without having to worry about her needing someone to carry her."

"Why there?" Ferra asked, "Why not the head to the mountains?"

"Well," Riku grunted as he helped her onto the cart, "you'll be a lot safer out on the water than on land, there isn't a large variety of water based Heartless, and they'll bemore interested in me than you guys in a bit."

"Whoa whoa whoa time out, you're going to become bait to draw them away?" Ferra said shocked, "What are you going to do if they corner you

"I think I'll be fine, but we need to get you guys to safety for now."

…

Sora cut down the fifth Defender with a quick slash to the back, releasing the Heart that resided within and watched as it floated away. After he'd left his parents, he'd headed deeper into the neighbor hoods to evacuate anyone that he could, and fought anything that was a danger to anyone. The Heartless that were appearing were getting more and more powerful, and there seemed to be more appearing either from the attraction to the fear or from the source of the fear. Sora had seen before what the Heartless did to a person who fell into Darkness, and with all the chaos around him, he could imagine that there were a couple Heartless that were originally from this Island. But there was something that troubled him, something that seemed off about all of this.

"What's on your mind partner?" Roxas asked appearing next to him.

Sora nodded to the spot where he'd fought the Defender Heartless, "Don't you think the variety of Heartless we've fought so far is a bit odd."

"How so?"

"Well usually there are Heartless that are specific to a certain world ya know, but a lot of what we've fought has been a bit mixed. The Defenders, Wight Knights, Fat Bandits,

Assault riders, all of those are usually in a specific world, but these are all here together without any sort of order." Sora shook his head confused, and looked to the fires that were starting to enter the neighborhoods, "It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe these guys are what were left after they were cast from the worlds they invaded. Since they fear the Keyblade most they came here to fight you."

"But why now, why after three months of us getting back to our normal lives did they have to come back?"

"That might have to be a question for later." Roxas said pointing towards the intersection before fading away.

Coming down the road at a slow pace was Cole helping a very injured looking Mr. Mason who was dragging a bloody leg, and holding a wounded arm. When both parties caught sight of each other, they both hustled to each other, stopping at a bench where Cole sat Mason down.

"We've gotta stop meeting like this," Cole laughed as he caught his breath, "People will start talking."

"What happened to him?" Sora asked kneeling down and casting a heal spell on the wounded leg of his teacher.

"I found him on the ground at the school, and while we were running away we got ambushed and he got smacked around pretty badly before we escaped." Cole said wiping the sweat from his forehead, "speaking o which, can you tell me why the hell there are Heartless roaming the streets like the living dead."

"I'd like to know what the hell is going on as well and what the hell you're doing to my leg." Mason said looking angrily at the two of them.

"I'm not sure what's causing this right now, but I'll explain later what going on, for now you can at least move and get to the docks, they probably need your help down there."

"And what about you?"

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and looked toward the road that led into town, "Don't worry about me, you two just get to safety."

"Not on your life." Cole said stepping up to Sora, "If you think you're going without me than you've got another thing coming, I'd like to see more Keyblade wielder action."

"No way am I letting you come with me." Sora exclaimed.

"Good, I wasn't asking for you to let me, I was telling you."

"But what about your grandmother? Shouldn't you make sure she's okay?"

"My gr-? She's fine, she's in the safe room in the basement, and Mason will be fine with his leg intact now, most of the action was behind us."

The teacher looked befuddled by the conversation he had just heard, having been completely ignored and now he was being told by his students to leave in the face of danger to save his own skin. There probably wasn't much he could do in his current state, and the vibe that he was getting from them made him feel like he wasn't needed here and his gut was telling him that they'd be fine. He would have his fight, just not today.

"Alright, I'll get to the docks and help out there." He said standing up, his once wounded leg now healed. Turning to the Sora, he pounded his chest with his right arm, "Fight well and return in glory."

"For your home is the true prize of victory." Sora responded pounding his chest as well. It was salute and motto of the IDF his father had taught him when he was young, it was usually told to those leaving the island for duty elsewhere, but the meaning held true for the situation at hand. He would take his home back from the Heartless, and defend his people.

"Let's go!" Cole yelled taking off down the road.

"Right!" Sora yelled after him.

…

The flow of people coming from the town continued as Kairi stood guard at the docks keeping any Heartless that appeared away from the people and helping those that need an extra hand. With her father now helping, the people were much calmer than before and the boats were being filled faster now that work was spread. Boat after boat filled with people left the docks and headed to the ocean where they would sit until something happened, but that was still to be determined. There were still a ton of people on land, and there were only so many fishing boats that could carry people away, even if neighboring Islands and the IDF sent help, there might not be enough time before the Heartless started coming this way in droves and overwhelmed her. But she couldn't think like that, she had to stay positive, and her spirits only rose when she saw Sora's parents run up with a couple people in tow.

"Thank goodness you're alright." She exclaimed giving each a hug.

"We're tougher than you think." Sora's father said proudly standing tall with his spear.

"How are things here?" His mother asked.

"We're fine for now," Kairi said looking back, "but there's a lot of people and there might not be enough boats."

"And I doubt that's helping at all." Sora's father said pointing behind her.

Looking back, Kairi saw a scraggly looking man she'd seen arrive earlier, who was beginning to draw his own crowd as he began to rave about the end. He had started to yell and preach about how this was some sort of punishment for the peace we had and how we had somehow taken it for granted with our lazy ways and how the Heartless were the devils sent to smite us.

"We will all perish in the might of the Oceans will for our laziness!" the man spit out, "Too long have we taken from it and not given back a soul in return. The Ocean split the land into Islands so that we could serve it more widespread! But instead we have forsaken it saying instead that war split the land not the Ocean, and have chosen to ignore it so now it rains down death and destruction!"

"That guys a loon." she said. The man was talking about the Word of the Ocean, it was the belief that the ocean was actually a deity that we were meant to worship and in olden times were meant to sacrifice to as well. The religion wasn't that popular nowadays especially with the thought of sacrificing someone to please the water, but there was still a small following and even some Islands that followed the word without sacrifice. There had been some cases in recent years of attempted sacrifice by the more loyal fanatics, but since it was meant to be a public thing it was promptly stopped whenever it went too far. As she continued to watch, the gathering crowd was starting to grow restless, even if it were the words of a raving man, it was still scaring them and it wasn't going to make things go any smoother. "Maybe I should say something."

Running up to the crowd, she pushed her way through the throng of people and made her way to the middle where the man stood on crate to speak his words. The people around her gave her looks, but let her pass and the feeling she was getting from the crowd was really dark, but maybe that was from the fear. Upon reaching the middle, the man's words seemed to heighten the dark vibe she was feeling, and it wasn't getting any better, "Sir can you please, calm down, you're scarring a lot of people."

"They should be scared!" he cried out when she interrupted him, looking at her with a hard stare, "we should all be scarred as we flee right into the clutches of the mighty Ocean where it will punish us as it has done on land."

"Trust me this isn't the Ocean, this is something else."

"And who are you to tell us what this is? You are only angering the Ocean as you slay its creatures brought down upon us."

"My friends and I are only trying to save you all, those things are dangerous and will only grow more dangerous the more scared you are."

"But there is only one way to save us all, we must make a sacrifice to the Ocean and all our fears will disappear." The Man yelled hopping down, and eyeing the crowd before his eyes fell back to Kairi, "and the best sacrifice is one that has angered the ocean the most."

He made a grab for Kairi and she jumped back right into the arms of a man who she recognized from the bakery, while at first it seemed he was helping her up, it turned out he was keeping a hold on her so she couldn't get away.

"Wha? Let me go!" she yelled trying to squirm her way out of his grip.

"No, he's right," the scared man said tightening his grip on her, "we need to appease the Ocean and you'll only make it angrier if we let you keep on fighting those things."

"But that's just a bunch of baloney!" she said baffled by what she was hearing, and as she looked around, she saw that the people around her were beginning to nod in agreement. The fear was making them all think that what this man was saying was the word of some crazy deity. And now she was in the middle of the snake pit surrounded by vipers. "You all need to calm down and think of what you're doing, you all know me, I'm the Mayors daughter you all know me!"

"Yes and it should be the duty of a leaders daughter to help her people any way they can!" A women near her wept holding her child close to her, "no matter the cost."

"It's perfect, we may not have a princess, but this is the next best thing that we have on hand!" the crazed man preached making all the people nod in agreement, "and besides, who knows where you got that weapon from, maybe you're what the Ocean is really after. Maybe this is a test of our faith and it is our duty to destroy she who menaces the great Ocean!"

While they did in fact actually have a princess, that didn't help the situation for her at all. Looking around desperately, she could see Sora's father shoving his way through the wild crowd, but his advance was stopped as they realized his intentions and the rest of the people only watched whether not knowing what was going on, or too shell shocked to care. She had to think fast, she didn't want to hurt these people, but she might have to if they actually tried to kill her, and there was also the other issue at hand. The Darkness in their hearts was building like a dirty storm cloud, she could sense it coming from all of them and she feared the worst for some of these people if they fell too deep into Darkness.

"I'm sorry about this!" she yelled elbowing the guy holding her forcing him to let go. Before the people could rush in to grab her again, she summoned her Keyblade and cast fire on the end of the blade making everyone back away, "Get back!" she yelled shoving the burning end at people making them back away. Making her way towards Sora's father, he promptly punched the people holding him and pulled her out of the crowd which formed back up. They quickly backed away from the mob and backed towards the beach and ocean behind them. But the crowd grew brave and followed them, heading away from the mess of the docks and joining them on the sand, at least a solid fifty people in the group, not including the onlookers that did nothing either way.

"What is wrong with you people, what do you all think you're doing." Sora's mother yelled joining her husband.

"We are doing the work of a greater being!" The Preacher man proclaimed heading the crowd as he pulled out a knife from his pocket, "and you can either leave or join her in this wondrous moment of salvation!"

"Don't you even think about touching my wife and Kairi, you're going to have to get through me and I will not go down easy!" Sora's father yelled planting his spear, "This girl will not fall to your fear and idiocy."

"Then you will all go out with her." The man said taking a step forward with the rest of the crowd

…

The front door of the Diner creaked open as Riku poked his head out and check to see if the coast was clear down the quiet road. With no Heartless in sight, he ran out into plain sight closing the door quickly behind him to ensure no curious Heartless would search where he'd come from. Looking around some more, he sighed happy to see no sign of any nearby danger besides the flames and whistled to the others waiting in safety. First the barrel of the shot gun poked out, then his mother's head, then the rest of her, and then 15 people exited when everything was positively safe.

"Alright," his mother said pointing down the road, "that's the fastest way to the docks, we'd better start heading that way."

"I'm going to lead, I need you with everyone else to keep them safe in case something appears behind us, I'll get back there as fast as I can so just scare them at first to keep them back," Riku said before looking back to Ferra, "Or at least keep her safe in case everyone bails all of a sudden."

His mom gave him a look that most mothers gave their kids every now and again, but she didn't say anything and went back to the small group to get them moving in the direction of the docks and the direction of possible danger. Checking around the first corner, he spotted nothing and waved the group forward after him, and this was how they would do this until they all got to the docks safely, hopefully. Running past the shops and farther down the road, he peeked around the next corner and repeated the process, and continued the process. As they were running, he would look back to see them struggling to keep pace, Ferra had to be pushed to be kept mobile and there were several elderly people with them that weren't as spry as they used to be. Another factor was the fact the people were carrying such a mishmash of whatever they could find to use as a weapon, which ranged from kitchen knives, pans, and even a broken stool leg. If they needed to defend themselves from a small group of enemies they stood a chance until he ran back and helped them, but if there were to be a larger scale attack there might be a casualty or two before he could get to them. And that was being hopeful, but he needed to have faith in his people, he knew they were stronger than they looked and some were even old vets from the IDF, those guys weren't strangers to danger. Riku was just about to peer around the next corner when far ahead he saw a shadow sitting in the middle of the road not doing anything but sit there and stare at the blue sky clouded with smoke above. While it wasn't a real threat, the scene threw Riku for a loop, it didn't quite feel right with there just being that one shadow sitting and doing nothing and it kept eating at him as he kept staring at it. Looking back to his group, they all waited for some kind of signal from him so that they could move on, or protect themselves in case there happened to be an attack, or an . . .

"Get back!" he yelled just as a Large Body hopped down from the roof of the store next to them, the oversized Heartless causing a shockwave when it landed on the ground in between Riku and the group stunning them both and cracking the pavement. All along the roof tops, Heartless of all varieties began appearing and jumping from the roofs to join its cohort in the attack. Riku had thought it seemed odd that they hadn't run into any Heartless so far when right before the diner there had been hundreds marching around the town, and now he knew that they had set a trap for him, waiting till they left the safety of the diner to catch their prey in a trap. And all they needed to do was let them move far enough away so that they couldn't get back to safety and would be forced to fight, even worse now that they were separated by a growing horde of Heartless. It was an ambush.

"Riku!" he heard his mother yelled from the other side of the growing horde of Heartless.

"I'm fine!" he yelled back summoning his Keyblade. He needed to get back to his group fast before they were completely surrounded, but he also needed to take out some Heartless so that they could escape.

Getting into his stance, he dashed towards the Large Body avoiding its large fists that swiped at him by sliding under them and quickly stabbing it in the back before moving onto the next target. There were many different types of Heartless standing between him and his group, shadows, Large body's, Wyverns, Pirates, and other monstrosities, but they wouldn't stand a chance in front of him. The small fry were easy to pick off, several would disappear from one good swipe, they only stood to inconvenience Riku, but even still they were in the way and kept him from the main force that was slowly converging on his group. Looking up, the Wyverns were swooping around like vultures waiting for their prey to die, while the Air Pirates and Gargoyles made dives at them while his group hopelessly swiped at them. Increasing his efforts, he attacked with more ferocity than before and pushed forward with a surge of energy he hadn't felt since he had returned to the Island. His path opened as plumes of hearts rose to the sky from his fallen opponents, and he could clearly see his group defending themselves as best they could, and with a great leap he finally reached them.

"Hraa!" he yelled slicing the Heartless they were fighting before turning back to the Horde that surrounded them, "Is everyone okay!?"

"Just a couple cuts and bruises." His mother said whilst blasting an Air Pirate with her gun.

"Alight, I'm going to open up a path and I want you all to run through and don't look back!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, but I need you guys to get away, your close enough to the docks to get to safety, they're going to find me more appetizing than you guys." Riku said pointingto where he came from, "When I say go I need you to GO!"

Stepping forward, he closed his eyes as focused all his magic energy towards the tip of his blade, and kept building it as a small blue ball of cold energy formed making the air condense and freeze. A dark cloud began forming above the Heartless in front of the, the air crackling with electric energy causing the hair on his arm to rise. It was now or never.

"BLIZZAGA!" he cried out raising his blade and shooting a blue beam of icy energy through the horde in front of him, causing them all to freeze in a giant Ice block. Then raising his blade to the sky, he released the electric energy in one massive thunder strike on the Frozen Heartless, shattering them into pieces and leaving a hole,"THUNDAGA! GO NOW!"

Without hesitation the group ran around him and through the hole to safety, the Heartless around them stunned by the blast of energy, and distracted by the only tasty morsel left. Taking a knee, Riku tried to catch his breath as the Heartless closed in around him, not having used that much magic energy in so long had taken a toll on his body and he was now in shock.

"Gotta get up," he told himself using the Keyblade to prop himself up as his enemies closed in on him. Then from behind the Heartless he heard a cry for help and sighed, "Gotta go save the day again." Looking to the sky, the flying Heartless swooped around him waiting for the best opportunity to get him, but that wasn't going to happen. Jumping up, he grabbed one of the hook bats that flew too close to and swung from it to one of the Large body's and began jumping from one Heartless to another slowly making his way to the other side of the Horde, which was very difficult since they didn't like being jumped on. He finally reached the other side jumping off the last Heartless, finding that the group of survivors had left behind his mother, an old man and Ferra to defend themselves against a rogue shadow Heartless. Riku was confused at first when he saw Ferra on the ground, but when he got closer, he saw that the cart lying where the Large body from before had cracked the pavement, probably tossing her when they accidentally pushed her into it. Running up, he promptly sliced the Heartless in two and checked on the trio.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked looking between the three of them.

"I'm fine." Ferra said with a nod, "We were looking behind us when the cart bit it, thankfully Mr. Janson here caught me before I bit it as well. The Cart doesn't look like it will carry me anymore though."

"Then I can carry you, we need to move quickly." He said picking her up.

"Easier said than done." His mother said still lying on the ground, "I caught the cart in the leg when it hit the crack. I don't think I'm moving too quickly any time soon."

Riku looked back to the Heartless which were making their way over and realization dawned on him what was happening. He couldn't carry both Ferra and his mother and defend them, and the old man didn't look like he could carry either of them, which meant he might have to leave someone.

"Come on try and get up!" he urged his mother.

Nodding, she used the turned over cart to pull herself up and stood carefully on one leg, but whenever she attempted too much weight on her other leg she hissed in pain.

"Like I said." She laughed shaking her head, "I'm not moving too quickly any time soon."

"Well you need to try!" turning to the old man, Riku gestured to the pipe he was holding, "Take that pipe, lean on it! Lean on him, find a way to move!"

"How about I stay behind while you all get away. Even with a crutch, they'd still catch up to us."

"No, I won't do it!" Riku yelled tears forming in his eyes, "I can't let you fall into Darkness!"

"It'll be fine," his mother said tears forming in her own eyes as she touched his cheek, "a mothers gotta protect her son the best she can, and I've done a poor job the last couple years."

"No, I was a poor son! I can't lose you, I just got back to you!" he cried grabbing her hand.

"It'll be okay." She said softly.

". . . I-"Riku started before he was cut off by the old man taking his mother's shotgun from her hands, and taking the ammo pouch she had.

"Sara, I've gotta say you've done a fantastic job running that diner." He said handing her the pipe, "I've always liked your coffee, and you made the best eggs I've had since my wife passed away."

"Mr. Janson?" she said confused at the old man who stepped towards the horde of Heartless.

"I think it's time you all left and got to safety with everyone else." he said pumping the gun.

"But what about you?"

"I'm going to stay here and show these things how a real man fights." He said with a smile, "Don't worry about me, I'm old and you still gotta take care of your boy, so

get going while you still can."

"But-"

"But nothing!" he said with finality before looking to Riku, "Son, no matter what people think about it, It's always been a man's duty to protect the women in his life and that's what I'm gonna do and that's what your gonna do. Get these girls to safety."

Taken back by the man's words, he nodded and unceremoniously threw Ferra over his shoulder, and took his mother's arm on her bad side and helped her move away from the old man and the horde. Looking back, he saw the Heartless drawing closer to the old man who was walking toward them as well, a wild grin on his old face as he took aim and fired a couple shots at them. His mother's eyes were running with tears as she kept herself from looking back at the man who had chosen to stay his ground, and he could understand what she must be feeling as he had just been about to lose her.

"Fight well and return in glory!" he yelled over his shoulder as they moved farther and farther away.

"For your home is the true prize of victory!" the old man shouted back in delight as he continued to battle the Heartless who were thoroughly engaged with him. It was only after they rounded the corner did the shots from the gun finally end for good.

…

"ENOUGH!" a voiced boomed causing everyone on the beach to freeze. At the edge of the dock, standing shorter than everyone else yet seemingly above them was the Mayor, the silence that followed was disturbing as it felt like everything from the people to the sea had obeyed his command and had quieted down. Jumping down, he strode over to the mob of people that stood frozen like deer caught in the headlights as they watched their elected official walk towards them with a certain authority he rarely wielded. Kairi sighed in relief at the sight of her father strongly striding across the sand, if there were anyone that could diffuse the situation it was him.

"What do you all think you're about to do?" he said stopping in front of Preacher man, who seemed to have finally shut his mouth.

"W-we plan on sacrificing your daughter to please the Ocean." He said fumbling for words.

"And do you think that will help the situation at all?" the Mayor asked cocking his head.

"Yes," the preacher man answered regaining his composure, "for once the Ocean is pleased then it will reward us with peace until we make our next sacrifice."

"Hmmm, I see what you're saying, but I don't think you all have the capacity to go through with it. I know you all, you're all better people than this and you should be able to tell when your fears are getting the better of you!"

Some people the in mob started looking away ashamed at his words, while others stood fast and shook their heads ignorant to what they were hearing. At the head of it all, the Preacher man began to feel cocky at the moment as he knew he had the upper hand, and stepped up to the Mayor and poked him in the chest.

"As I said, we should all be afraid of what's happening to us since it is our fault. So how about you step aside and let us start the ceremony, and after we're done, we'll be hailed as heroes when the Ocean pulls its minions back."

"So you're all going to go through with it?" the Mayor said directing the question to the mob.

"Of course we are." Some of them yelled back defiant and reckless.

"So you all plan on slitting my baby girls throat, and spilling her blood to save your own selfish pathetic selves?" the Mayor said stepping past the Preacher man and walking up to one of the more defiant of the group, who faltered slightly at his words, "You all plan on killing an innocent girl in the hope that some possible figure might stop attacking us and then what? Tell me Tom, did owning that bakery teach you anything about killing a person because I highly doubt it."

"I-" Tom the baker said taking a step back.

"And what about the rest of you? Teachers, Electricians, Technicians, plumbers, etc., can all of you tell me that after all these years you're going to kill my daughter over the words of a raving lunatic who's just as scared as the rest of us? Are any of you willing to do the deed yourself, or are all you just going to stand by and watch as he does it and then regret your actions when nothing happens? Now you can either do some real good and go help your fellow citizens on the dock get to safety and be real heroes that way, or you can stay here and attempt to get past me to my daughter and when you fail I will make damn sure you never set foot on this Island ever again."

The once rowdy crowd grew quiet as they all began to contemplate whether or not they were making the right decision by trying to sacrifice a girl for something that might not happen. The looks on their faces ranged from shame, to fear, and even sadness as some realized what they really were doing. These people had never seen their Mayor this angry much less seen him raise his voice to them as he always kept a cool and relaxed demeanor, but now he wore the determined face of an angry father ready to do anything for his little girl. Some started walking away and soon the rest followed as well, heading back to the docks to attempt to do some good, or just sit there and wait for their own demise.

"Wait come back!" the Preacher man yelled desperately to his thinning flock, "we were going to save the Island weren't we, come back here and help me sacrifice her to our Lord the Ocean!"

"Enough." Kairi said joining her father solemnly, "you need to calm down and listen to reason."

Looking back to them both, she was surprised to see the preacher man's eyes burning with tears of rage, "Reason took my family from me!" he screamed at her dropping to his knees and breaking down, "I gave up on my faith not too long ago and now I'm being punished for it . . . My wife . . . My son, they were both taken right before my eyes by the Almighty's minions and I could only watch as they took them, i heard their cries for help as I stood there like a coward and watched. I knew right then that maybe his greatness would bestow them to me again if I showed my faith, but you've ruined that for me."

Kairi felt for the man as he told her his part, he like everyone else here was a victim and had turned to the only thing he knew that might possibly save his family and it blinded him from reality. She began tentatively walking up to the man, shaking her father off when he tried stopping her, and knelt down next to him a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't say that I agree with how you tried to get your family back, but I see that you truly cared for them enough to go the distance for them. But if you were to get them back the way you planned, do you think they would look at you the same, you would go down a path nobody should have to."

"Then what should I do?" he asked looking up at her.

"Let me help, let my friends help. We can get your family back and save your home, but you need to let us do our jobs and not try and kill us."

"You can bring them back?"

"Yes, it might take some time, but their hearts are out there somewhere waiting to be reunited with you, and are job is to free them. Let us help and I promise your family will come back."

The preacher man eyes continued to tear, but a sense of calm seemed to pass over him leaving behind the crazed look he had before with a certain bliss. He looked to the ground and thought blank faced, a man about to make an important decision.

"Thank you, your words are that of someone who truly cares about those around her and I fully believe that you could save my family for me."

Kairi sighed with relief at his words.

"But I can't take the chance that you might wrong."

He pulled out his knife and tackled her.

…

Sora waited outside the Butcher shop watching the road as he waited for Cole to find some sort of weapon he could use besides his fists. When they had left Mason, there hadn't been as many Heartless as they thought, but the ones that did appear were starting to get into the stronger and more dangerous kind, and with Sora as the only one able to really defeat them, Cole needed a way to hurt them. So as they were walking down the street, Cole had the idea of grabbing a knife from the one place he could see that would have a knife capable of any damage at all.

"I think this will work just fine." Cole said coming out of the store wielding a 9 Inch Cleaver and wearing a rather bloody knife belt in which to sheath it when on the run.

"That seems impractical, and isn't this stealing?" Sora pointed out skeptically.

"Correction, this is looting, it's only stealing if the person that owned this place had any hope of returning. And for your information, this knife can kick ass in a pinch, plus who wants to mess with the guy carrying a cleaver."

"Looting and stealing are literally the same thing said differently."

Cole just shrugged it off, "Tomato, tomata."

"Who in the worlds says tomata?"

"People who don't know how to say tomato properly. But c'mon now let's go and see if everything over here is clear." The emptiness of the town was off putting, all the shops empty, the sidewalks clear of people, the park lacking the laughter of kid, most of those know on fire or were about

=to be. With no people about, the Heartless had left the area, but the few that stayed still caused messes and were violently breaking anything in their paths. Since Cole

couldn't completely slay a Heartless, whenever they crossed paths with one he would smack it with the flat end of hi blade towards Sora who would slay it and then move

onto the next batch. They did this over the course of three blocks before they stopped and took break at the park.

"There's nothing left here." Sora sighed looking around, "we might as well head to the docks and see if there are any issues there."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Cole shrugged and they started off towards the docks, "so this is gonna be quite the coming out story, probably the best one this islands seen

in years."

"Yeah well I was hoping to never have to come out about my Keyblade." Sora sighed.

"Any idea what are you gonna do after this?"

"Not sure, I'll probably contact the king and have him explain to me why this happened, or Master Yen Sid maybe."

Cole didn't bother to respond as they started to pick up the pace toward the docks going from a light jog to a solid sprint, the buildings whizzing by as they ran. They had to stop when they came upon a massive influx of Heartless, the majority of them chasing after stragglers that were heading to the dock. They didn't cause too much of a problem, but it was bad that they were still quite a ways away from the dock and there shouldn't be this many people this far back from safety.

"It looks like the evacs been running a little slow." Sora commented as the passed another group of stragglers, "I hope things are going better with everyone else."

As the words left his mouth, the ground around them began to shake and shiver as if something massive had landed to earth.

"They're probably having a splendid time." Cole sighed.

…

Riku sat his mother and Ferra down on an empty porch while he took a quick break to catch his breath and gather his thoughts. A mental image of the old man staying behind to fight the Heartless haunted his mind, as much as he wished he could've helped him, all he could think at the time was how he was so close to losing his mother.

He was relieved, but did he have the right to be?

"Are you okay?" Ferra asked looking at him concerned. His fatigue must have been showing.

"I'm fine," he sighed looking away, "I just wish that I could've done more."

". . . Listen I know you're beating yourself up about what happened, but he chose to go out his own way and not let them take him as a coward, but as a fighter." She said scooting over to him and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, "And you've done so much already, you rescued me, saved all those people that left us behind, fought your way through a swarm of those things and carried me and your mother here. You've done a lot."

"I guess if there were any way to go out it would be facing my enemy head on." Riku nodded, "but I can't forgive myself just yet, not until I get you two to safety and make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain."

Just then the earth all around them began shaking furiously and tossed them all to the ground.

"That probably a sign for us to get moving again."

…

Kairi fell back as the man jumped on top of her, but instead of lying there she use his momentum against him and rolled back, kicking him off her when he passed over. He fell to the ground hard, but was back up on his feet in an instant, the anger in eyes like fire and spit flying from his mouth as he growled like a wild animal ready to kill its prey, his knife ready in hand for another go.

"I WILL GET YOU AND I WILL GET MY FAMILY BACK!" he yelled madly.

"Please stop, didn't you hear me say I could help you." Kairi yelled back desperately trying to calm the man. Sora's father and her father ran up to back her up, but she stopped them with a hand, she wanted to see if she could diffuse the situation.

"I can't trust you!" he said stepping forward with the knife raised, "and you shouldn't trust me."

"WHY!?" she cried.

"Because I no longer trust myself in this insanity!"

He looked like he was preparing to go at her again before his suddenly jolted to a halt, his eyes widening as he actually took a step away from her and grabbed his chest. His breathing grew ragged and he dropped the knife to the sand as his other hand began to grasp at his chest as well while he continued backing away from the confused people before him towards the ocean behind him. It was already too late before Kairi realized what was happening and tried to run after him.

"NOOOOOOO!" she cried out as he fell back into the water, his chest opening as his body was enveloped by darkness and water. He had fallen into the Darkness in his heart and it had consumed him, and it showed as Heartless started to show up from the streets and down the beach, all of them attracted to the Darkness he had just emitted.

"What in the world?" Sora's father said coming up behind her and looking down into the water, "He's gone?"

"The Darkness took him." Kairi said shaking tears from her eyes and backing away from the water towards to the docks, "we need to get back to the people!"

That's when the earth around them began to shake and stir, everybody falling to the ground, the people on the dock screaming in terror as suddenly things were heating up. A little ways out in the water, it began to bubble and churn as something from the depths shot up.

"That's not good." Kairi gasped as she beheld the great beast before her.

It was a Heartless of massive proportions, though half its boy was still underwater, it could have easily toward over a Darkside just from what was above the water. It had a somewhat humanoid figure, but the chest was open with what looked like whaled bones for a ribcage and a sand as the skin. The sand that made up most of the body was constantly churning and moving as it traveled across its body excluding the arms, which were made up of what looked to be old sunken ship wood, and the head which was a large mass of Coral with two beady yellow eyes in it and the Heartless insignia formed atop its head in black Coral.

"That's not good at all.

…

Riku stumbled back as the houses next to them began to break apart and rise from their foundations on the ground and concrete cracked and split making massive fissures. Quickly picking Ferra and his mother up, he ran away with them while the ground behind him began to raise higher and higher into the air taking the houses, sidewalks and roads with it. looking back the ground had stopped rising and left only a domed shaped pile of earth with houses atop it at least 60 feet in the air.

"You stay here." He said putting the girls down on the front porch of a house, "I think I have some business to take care off."

"Be safe." They both said in unison as he ran off toward what he'd dreaded.

His fears were true when he got close enough to tell that it was a special type of Heartless he was dealing with. Below the dome of earth there were four giant tree stumps that move below it causing the large creature to move, shaking the ground around it with each step. There were dark strands of darkness that leaked out the sides of the dome and small opening on one side revealed two yellow eyes. It wasn't a dome he was looking at, it was a shell.

"So that must mean you're a slow turtle aren't you." He said pulling his blade out.

He barely had time to react before a snake head shout out of the shell and attempted to snatch him, jumping away at the last second and narrowly avoiding the attack from the deadly thing before him.

"Or not."

…

Cole and Sora stopped when a giant shadow suddenly blotted out the sun above them causing the stragglers to panic and hurry away. Looking up, they caught sight of what looked like a large ship flying through the air, the three masted beast bearing the Heartless Insignia on each sail. There were cannons that lined the port and starboard side of the ship, what looked to be a crew of evil creatures aboard it, and on the front was a Figurehead which moved its head from side to side seemingly controlling the ship.

"Well Shi-." Cole began before a volley of cannon fire was directed at them.

…

 **Well guys that was this chapter, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did and hopefully you won't have to wait long for the next chapter to come out. There was a lot that happened this chapter that I wanted to, and I'm really happy that its gotten to this point. As a hopeful writer, I would ask that if you see anything major that doesn't sound right or maybe you spotted a sleep deprived mistake notify me. As always send in your thought and tell me what you think about the story so I can do my best for you all. Ok well I'll see ya next chapter.**


	12. Battle for Destiny part 2

**A/N: Hey guys welcome to another chapter of this wonderful story I'm attempting to write as life trundles on. Maybe by the time I finish this KH3 will finally be out, just kidding at the rate they're going it'll never come out; It's gonna be the new half-life and we can all suffer together. A friend of mine also told me that the last chapter's format came out weird so I went back and fixed that any other little issues that I found within it. Enjoy.**

…

"GET BACK!" Kairi's father yelled pulling her back as the giant sand Heartless smashed its fist where she had just been standing, the rotten wood knuckles exploding out like shrapnel when it made contact with the ground. Kairi landed on her back hard next to her father, they missed getting hit by fist, but the shockwave it created knocked sent them off their feet saving them from the wood shards by mere inches.

"Thanks dad." She groaned sitting up. She looked up at the monster that had once been the grief stricken man they had failed to save and now she was being punished for it and it felt like there wasn't anything they could do about it. Sitting up she looked back to the docks and found the people still there screaming in terror as they tried to escape into the boats, or ran back towards the burning town. Unfortunately for them a swarm of Heartless was being attracted to all of the fear and began blocking up the roads and spilling onto the sand. Those who were fortunate enough to turn around fast enough could only listen to the screams of those behind them as the Heartless pounced them.

"No!" She cried out as she watched people being devoured by the darkness, screaming in terror as their hearts became engulfed, creating more monstrous creatures. It was all her fault, she failed to save them she-

"Kairi!" Her father yelled pulling her from her troubled thoughts, "I need you to do what you can to stop that things advance, no matter what, make that your top priority!"

"But-!"

"I can handle the people, but I can't do that with that thing scaring them all away. Draw its attention elsewhere and keep it away from here, if you do that long enough, I can do something to possibly help you while Sora's parents hold the rest of those creatures off. I need you to trust me on this!"

"But-!"

"Sora's parents will be fine, those two were some of the best fighters in the IDF before they settled down. Now do as I say!"

"Al-alright!" she said surprised at her father's strength in the situation and his calm quick thinking, she had no idea what he had in store, but she needed to have faith in him. She watched as her father took off towards the dock, while Sora's parents gave her a nod of encouragement before they took off as well, leaving her with the Ocean Heartless.

"Alright!" She said getting up and facing the monster which roared at her defiantly, "Let's see what you're made of."

…

"Well this is just fantastic!" Cole said as he cut down a small squad of Heartless that were attempting to go after some other fleeing civilians.

"How so!?" Sora yelled back while he dealt with his own Heartless.

"We're about to be fired upon from above!"

Sora looked up just in time to watch as the giant Heartless ship floating high in the sky, finished readying its starboard cannons, and began to take aim at them. Since the thing had shown up, it had been dropping countless numbers of its Heartless crew on them and there seemed to be no end to them as more dropped down. And now this.

"GET TO COVER!" Sora yelled to other civilians as he tackled a cowering family to the ground, shielding them with his body and an Aeroga spell.

The boom of the cannons above them was deafening as ridiculously large dark cannon balls crashed around them, apparently filled with explosives as they erupted on contact, sending out dark flames. The screams of those who hadn't been quick enough to find safety could be heard from all around them as Sora struggled to keep himself up. The volley from above them eventually stopped, but the ground continued to rumble as the structures around them crumbled and fell. While he hadn't taken a direct hit, the impact from the volley had jarred him and he felt dizzy getting to his feet while the family he saved thanked him and took off.

 _You okay man!?_ Roxas asked shaking Sora from his daze internally.

 _Yeah I'm solid._ He answered shaking himself back to reality.

His heart fell when he looked around only to hear the screams of the unfortunate around him stop as the dark flames engulfed each person's heart, leaving only a husk that disappeared into the nothingness to become a Nobody. The Heartless that had been in the vicinity of the blast seemed unaffected by all the destruction around them and continued to march on to find new victims. The dark fire continued to burn as it mixed in with the flames that were already burning the town, there wouldn't be anyone to put it out, those who were supposed to had probably found a dark surprise waiting for them and were long gone.

 _Where's Cole?_

Turning full circle, Sora couldn't see him with the smoke blocking most of his view, so he ran toward the last place he'd seen him fighting Heartless.

"Cole!" he called out, "Cole are you alright!?" No Answer. He continued forward until he thought he saw a figure a little further ahead. As he drew closer he saw the figure hunched over on its knees, its burnt back turned to Sora.

"Cole?" Sora asked tentatively reaching for the hunched figure. The figure suddenly shifted as it began coughing profusely sending Sora reeling back in surprise.

"Ugh, that frickin hurt." Cole choked out.

Sora sighed in relief, "Jeez Cole I thought you were toast there for a minute."

"Nah, I feel crispy fried though." He quipped back slowly getting up to his feet, releasing a small child that he'd been protecting, "the kid tripped before she made it over to her families cover. I wasn't directly hit, but man those flames burn like hell."

"Well it is fire." Sora said pulling a healing potion out and pouring it over his friends back. Cole wasn't looking too good, the flames had completely burnt through his shirt and his skin was black crusted, the fact that he wasn't screaming in pain on the ground was a wonder. Thankfully the potion seemed to be working quickly, healing the worst of it and leaving some areas pink where new skin began to grow back, sped up from the potion. "That was the only potion I had left from my previous adventure so there's not much I can do till my magic's back, can't do much else for the smell or the burnt patch of hair."

"I was joking when I said I got crispy fried." Cole sighed tenderly touch his backside, "well that sucked, but we still gotta fight."

"Maybe you should head to the docks with everyone else?"

Cole looked at him angrily before pulling the remains of his shirt off. "Screw that, this things really pissed me off and I want payback!"

"And how do we get up there?" Sora said gesturing to the ship, "I don't have enough magic to get up there by myself at the moment, much less get the both of us up there."

Cole looked to the sky before looking down to ponder on what to do. "How much do you weigh?" He said looking up to Sora.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you weigh less than 200 pounds?"

"I think I am, why?"

 _Tower, this is flight SR 420 to the Heartless airship, we are prepared for takeoff._ Roxas said

 _WHAT!?_ Sora thought back confused.

 _Roger that SR 420 you are clear for takeoff_

"This." Cole said reaching down and grabbing Sora by the ankle and pulling him to the ground, ignoring his protests. Sora watched as his friends muscles bulge as with one mighty pull and a mighty yell, he threw Sora through the air headfirst towards the flying ship. While this wasn't the first time Sora had been thrown like a ragdoll, remembering back to his time with Tarzan and the Gorillas, he had not been expecting it to happen like this.

"YOU-!" he started.

"Throw me a rope when you get up there!" Cole called up to him.

"-SON OF A BI-!"

…

Riku huffed as he ran back at the weird turtle/snake Heartless, his lungs struggling to keep pace with him as he sprinted and dodged incoming attacks, all while jumping over the ruins of destroyed houses and concrete. The Heartless was massive and each step it took causedgreat destruction all around it, uplifting houses and the roads, making it look as if a massive bomb had exploded underneath the earth. The Heartless itself, while slow moving had a quick moving head that would shoot at him from a crevice that would travel all over the shell, which happened to be harder than steel and impenetrable. Every time he came in for an attack the head would strike out at him, making him dodge or parry it, and even if he did manage to get passed it, his Keyblade would bounce off the shell

"You're doing great!" Ferra called out trying to encourage him. The battle had thankfully moved away from her and his mother, but that wouldn't mean anything if they were attacked while he was busy with this thing.

"GRR!" was all he could get out as he strained against the snake head which was currently trying to bite his head off, the Keyblade precariously stuck in its teeth.

The Snake head gave up after a few minutes and quickly let go to return back to its shell where it hid hissing at him, as he backed off. Riku sucked in air while the moment lasted, his body was not taking this battle very well after all of the other fights he'd been in today, and his magic was depleted at the moment so there weren't many options he could think off to finish this thing off. The shell was too hard to break and the head was too quick to get a hit on it before it attacked again, and who knew what else this creature could do. So if the shell was too hard and the head to quick, the only thing left that he could was…

"The feet." He muttered. They were giant tree stumps shaped like a tortoise foot and they looked like they could easily be set on fire, but without magic he couldn't set it alight. Time to do it the old fashioned way, he thought to himself as ran back to where his mom and Ferra were.

"Are you okay?" His mother asked as he got near, her motherly instincts kicking in to high gear for his safety.

"I'm fine." He huffed, "Where's your lighter?"

"My… Lighter?" she said confused.

"Yes the lighter that you use to secretly light your smokes behind the diner whenever you're on break so that you can keep up the ruse that you quit years ago. I knew about it, dad knows about, we thought we should just let you have your secret, but now I need it."

"You little twerp." His mother said as she begrudgingly pulled out her smokes and a flip lighter and handed it to him.

"Thank you and you should quit it's bad for your health or something like that." He said before turning to check on the Heartless. Still far enough away to not hurt them yet, "I'll be right back, yell if it gets too close."

Running around the back of the house they were at, he searched for something that could help him keep the fire going. No lighter fluid by the grill, nothing by the fire pit, but there was a shed. Kicking the doors open he was faced with the most beautiful sight he'd seen today. A lawn mower, and with it a can of gasoline.

"Bingo."

"Now might be a great time to get back into the fight!" Ferra yelled from the front of the house, "like right now!"

Quickly grabbing the gas can, he was about to leave when he saw something that gave him an idea and grabbed that as well before running back out to the front porch. Right on time it seemed as the Heartless was nearing the girls slowly, the snake head straining to reach them from its slow body. Quickly dropping his items with them, he re-drew the Way to Dawn and distracted the Heartless again.

"Get that thing started." he yelled to his mother, who had pulled his items to her.

She looked to him puzzled, "Why do you need a chainsaw!?"

"Just start the damn thing!"

Turning back to his opponent, he re-doubled his offensive efforts and pushed back the Heartless to a safer distance while his mother took care of the chainsaw. But that wasn't his only objective, as he carefully watched the snake heads movement whenever it attacked, waiting for the right moment to strike. First the head would peek out before attacking with lightning quick speed, after that it would try to attack from the from there before retreating back into its shell. The moment he needed to strike was right after the first initial attack when it needed to slow down. And that moment was now.

The creature came in for another strike and that was when time slowed for Riku, his entire focus concentrated on his next moves. The head was fast incoming, but it was only till the last second that he dodged to the right, the scales grazing his skin as it passed. As its mouth slammed shut, Riku stabbed his Keyblade through its head and into the ground, pinning it there.

The head gave a surprised grunt as it was pushed into the ground and whenever it tried to pull itself back it only cut itself further. The only options it had was to either slowly struggle out, or rip its head in half trying to escape quickly and it seemed to choose the first option. Which gave Riku the chance he needed.

"Gas Can!" He yelled leaving his blade and sprinting back to his mother, who was still trying to get the chainsaw started, and Ferra who tossed it to him. Turning back to his enemy he ran back towards the main body which stumbled to get closer to its head. "Let's see how this works out!" he yelled running up to the front right leg and dousing it with gas before lighting it with the flip lighter and running to the next leg. The Heartless was obviously not pleased when it realized that one of its legs had caught fire and began struggle harder by smashing itself into the ground trying to impede his progress. But Riku was a lot more nimble than the beast and he was able to maneuver the quaking earth without tripping up and reached the right hind leg and set it ablaze as well.

The Heartless groaned In pain and began to stumble to its left as its right legs blazed hotter and crawled up the creatures legs. Riku calmly stepped back to watch his work in progress as the creature stumble in a slow circle that continued to destroy everything in its path, though now it was a more circular one. Running back to the girls, he was greeted with awed faces at the spectacle they were watching.

"I almost feel sad for it." Riku said taking the now running chainsaw from his mother.

"You plan to kill it with that?" she asked puzzled by his decision.

He shook his head as he walked away, revving the chainsaw in anticipation, "No I can't kill it with this," then looking back to them he smiled, "I've just had a long day, and I need to let out some steam."

Continuing forward, his prey spotted him nearing its head again and began to struggle further, but Riku's blade held the creature tethered down right where he wanted him.

"Don't worry, I'm just gonna take a bit off the top!"

…

 **A/N:** Hey I know this is super late and it's not that long, but I plan to write more and get back into the flow. Real life is a bitch. But on a quick side note, I will also be co-writing another story with a friend of mine and you might hear me mention it in the future. Until then see you next chapter.


	13. Battle for Destiny Finale

**A/N: Hey guys, it's been awhile and I have to say sorry for the late update, I kinda fell into a gaming binge and kinda fell out of writing. But shit happens and I'm back in business baby. Enjoy.**

…

 _DISNEY CASTLE_

 _Earlier_

"Donald I have to say that things are looking up for us." Mickey said as he and Donald walked down the grand hall to the study.

"You can say that again your majesty." Donald sighed happily.

Since they had parted ways with their traveling companions, the trio of Disney's best had returned to find warm welcomes waiting for them at home, along with a couple of angry words shaming them for not letting them know how they were. But all was well again for them, Mickey had taken back his post as king and was working day and night on all of the stuff that had piled up in his absence. Donald returned to his post of court magician and was helping to lighten the load on the king so he wouldn't overwork himself. And Goofy went back to taking naps in the courtyard as the head knight.

"With no force leading the Heartless, or Nobodies, the small groups that happen to appear are taken out pretty quickly," Mickey continued looking past the balcony out into the courtyard, "and as far as we can tell there's been no sigh of Maleficent or Pete."

"ugh," Donald shivered, "Pete we could handle, but Maleficent always gave me the creeps."

"Yeah she was pretty dark, but I still think there's some good left in her. She was willing to fight so that we could defeat Xemnas."

"She still gives me the creeps."

Mickey chuckled to himself as his friend gave an over exaggerated shiver. But it did bother him that in spite of all the searching that they had done, not a trace of either Pete or Maleficent had shown up since they had left the World that Never Was, especially since those two had were at times loud about their plans. In any case though, the worlds were experiencing as much peace as they had before the Heartless and Nobodies had attacked them and would hopefully be left alone for years to come. The only thing Mickey felt he had to do left was help save his friends who were still trapped in Darkness somewhere. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. And with the momentary peace they were having, now seemed like the perfect time.

"You know Donald, I was thinking about heading off world for a little bit." He said as they came up and waited for the brooms to open the door.

"Oh no you don't your Majesty, we just started working on the paper work from last year and your not leaving me to do it by my self!"

"No no! You and Goofy can come along as well, I might need some help." he said quickly running through the door trying to escape his friends possible wrath.

"Oh no you Don't! You get ba-"

"YOUR MAJESTY!" Jiminy called from the desk urgently, "RIKU IS CALLING FOR HELP!"

"What!?" the king cried out running to the desk and picking up the world transceiver that would contact Riku in times of trouble.

"Your Majesty!? Are you there!" Riku's frantic voice came crackling through.

"Yes Riku I'm here, what's going on!?"

"Your Majesty you gotta get to the islands fast, there's a massive Heartless attack and they're destroying everything!"

"I can come right now!" he said signaling to Donald who nodded and ran off to get the gummi ship ready, "are you all okay?"

"I think so, I'm in my Mom's diner with a bunch of people who're really scared. We're trying to get as many people off the island as we can so we're sending them to the docks, but the town got lit by some of the fire types and its spreading the chaos further. Sora ran off to help people and Kairi stayed to help defend the docks from attacks. But there are a lot of enemies and I'm having trouble fighting them while also defending the injured."

"Just hang in there Riku I'll be there soon!"

"I hope so your Majesty." and the transmission ended.

Mickey hurried out of the room and ran down the hall toward the courtyard, passing several brooms who were already helping the guards ready castle defenses. While the Cornerstone would keep the Darkness from reaching them, it was still possible for someone like Pete to enter the Castle, and if he and Maleficent were behind the attack on Destiny Islands then they could have something planned for them here as well. Running past the shrubbery, he opened the door to the hangar and rushed in to find the ship waiting and ready with Goofy and Donald standing by.

"Alright fellas, lets go save our friends!" he said running towards the ship.

"Yes sir!" they both saluted.

"Wait!" Mickey heard a cry from behind. Turning he found Minnie rushing as fast as she could to reach him.

"Min, I have to go." he said sadly trying to think of something to help explain the sudden rush.

"I know you do." she said grabbing his hand when she reached him, and giving him her sweetest smile, "just be careful okay?"

"You know it!" Mickey said proudly before running back to the ship

…

 _DESTINY ISLANDS_

 _Now_

Riku calmly dragged the blade of the chainsaw along the Heartless's neck as he walked by, making the creature tense up and continue it's futile struggle, while he reveled in it's despair. He almost felt bad for it, but then he remembered all the bad stuff the Heartless did and forgot any sympathy he might have felt while he continued toward the base of the neck. He would have to cut above himself if he were to reach the neck from the ground since the Heartless was so huge, but since he didn't know the proper etiquette for cutting Heartless heads with chainsaws, he figured what the hell.

"Now I know I said I'd take a bit off the top, but I think we should start with a trim down below (heh), we all get bit grungy under the neck from time to time." Riku said readying himself, trying to find the right spot to cut first, "I learned from my dad that a neck beard isn't that appealing to the ladies, and we wouldn't that happening to you now would we."

Finding a spot he liked, Riku revved up and began to slowly cut into the Hearltess neck causing the creature to recoil and smash it's non-burnt feet in the ground making small quakes. Pressing on, the Heartless struggled more, but that only helped severe itself from its body quicker, and just when Riku was about to completely sever the connection, he stopped himself and admired his work before he stepped up and made the finishing cut.

The Head and neck fell limp to the ground with a loud thud, the stump already starting to fade into black mist. Turning away from his handy work, Riku tossed aside the chainsaw as he headed back to his Keyblade which now stood lonely with the head having faded and pulled it free.

"I'm not gonna lie that was a little messed up." He heard Ferra say to him as he walked back to them.

"This whole days been a little messed up." he said taking a knee in front of the her and his mother, "besides I feel a lot better now."

"We all need to let out a bit of anger out every now and then, but let's just keep the beheading to the Heartless. Okay sweety?" His mother said kindly patting his shoulder.

"It's not like I planned to do it to anyone."

"That's good, also can I get my lighter back? Seeing ones child fight a giant rampaging beast tends to stress them out and need a smoke."

"Here." he said tossing it to her, "but maybe save that till we get to the beach safely."

"Yeah I'd be with you on that, but is that thing still supposed to be here?" Ferra said pointing to where he had fought the giant turtle/snake Heartless, "I thought those things faded when they died."

"What?" He said turning around. Sure enough, the shell and feet still stood their unmoving, the stump of the neck having faded leaving only an opening where its head would be.

Getting back up, he moved carefully back towards the Heartless waiting for it to move or attack, but it stood still, a husk with no sign of life left. When he finally reached where he had made his cut, he tentatively touched the creature, feeling the Darkness that still lingered within. He glanced up and the stump glowed slightly, giving off a small glimpse of light inside. He couldn't understand why this thing was still alive, the only explanation that he could think was that the heart still lingered in Darkness, but that usually stopped when the Heartless was defeated. Again the stump glowed slightly, giving another glimpse of light within the Darkness.

"I guess I'm going in." He sighed.

Taking a step back, he readied his Keyblade and jumped up slashing into the stump and body. The area was surprisingly thin and he easily made it into the shell with less effort than he thought and found himself surrounded by Darkness. Looking around, he found himself within the wide cavern of the shell, the edges coated with pure Darkness, the tree stump legs poked in from the corners of the shell, and pipes and concrete could be seen from the ceiling. But the main attraction that lit all of this was the Heart that sat in the middle of the shell, a bright pink and white light that shone brightly. Dark tendrils connected it to the shell from several directions all around it, holding it in place and keeping it from floating away.

"Wow." he said coming up to the Heart.

This was what it must look like in all Heartless, a small floating light kept in place by black arteries which powered the body and made it move. This was something that he had never imagined he would ever see, but standing here flabbergasted him all the same. But his amazement was cut off by the reminder of why he was here and what his job was. Free the Heart.

Running forward he slashed one of the black tendrils holding the Heart and watched it fade before moving onto the next. There was no struggle, no fight, no enemies appearing to stop him, just him and the Heart. But he heard them. Whispers. Low and quiet all around him. They grew in volume with each slash, but were indiscriminate and unintelligible, a bunch of words stacked upon each other with no real order or meaning. It was only till he had one more tendril to cut before he heard a clearer whisper reach him causing him to hesitate.

 _Failure_

"What failure, you? Or me?" he answered back.

 _Myself, My creation, My being, My purpose, My cause, My meaning, My want, My Lust, My passion, My needs, My Pride, My anger, My Wrath, My hate, My temptation, My everything. I failed at all of it and now you will kill me_

With every word it grew louder in his head shifting from low whispers to roaring screams. They were calm, they were angry, they were sad, they were hateful, and they were empty. But none of this felt like it was meant for Riku to hear, it felt almost wrong like when you know something about someone else that you shouldn't. It all felt wrong.

"It's time for you to go now." he said to the voice.

 _Maybe we can play again_

"No we won't"

 _Hmmm we'll see_

"Goodbye." he said slashing the last tendril setting the Heart free.

 _No, see you later_

And with that the voices stopped and the shell collapsed in on itself and on top of Riku.

…

Sora had always enjoyed flying, it was one of the things he had loved the most on his travels around the worlds, even gliding was a thrill. But there had been occasions when he wasn't in control of his flight, he'd been thrown by a gorilla in the Deep Jungle, he'd been tossed around by more than a couple Heartless, and had even been sucked through a dark portal. Those had been less than pleasant, and this time wasn't any different than those. Though he had to give Cole points on his tossing capabilities, the Track and Field coach would have fainted if he saw this throw. If only he'd thrown him a bit straighter instead of making him flip like a coin. It was actually starting to make him a bit nauseous.

He passed many flying Heartless on his way up, all of which seemed confused at the sight of the flying boy passing them, some decided to chase after him, but most just continued their way toward the ground. There were some ground types jumping from the ship to land on the ground way below, and Sora almost hit a few as they flew past, but thanks to some sort of dumb luck he continued on without incident. It was only till he flew past the top sail of the Heartless ship that he actually slowed down and stopped spinning, only to realize he was too dizzy to adjust himself so that he could land properly on the deck. So he instead crashed gracefully through the sail tearing a hole and hit the deck with a thud.

 _What a wonderful landing, I don't think I could have done it better myself_ Roxas said smugly

"I'd like to see you try." Sora slurred as he stumbled up, only to catch the railing to keep himself from falling back down. Everything spun and twisted, and his stomach rumbled at the possibility of giving back its contents the way it came in, "Damn you Cole."

 _Damn him later, we've got an audience_

Shaking his head, Sora lost the last bit of dizziness that held him, and looked at his surroundings. The ship was massive, the fact that it could fly was about a crazy as a flying ship could be, its deck was made of a deep purple wood with red trimming along the edges and railing. At closer glance, the figurehead of the ship was what looked to be a black skeleton chained to the ship whilst holding a lantern that swung the direction of the ship one way or the other. When it turned to look at him, he could see ghostly yellow eyes in the skull and a black cloud leaking from its jaw, giving an unheard order to attack him.

All around him Heartless suddenly popped up, a mixture of Pirates, shadows, and others, all swarming the deck towards him. Summoning his Two Become One Keyblade, he immediately got down to business and began to hack his way across the deck of the ship towards the cannons on the port side. He breathed in slowly, and as he breathed out he quickly ran and sliced all eight cannons in half, setting off an explosion that rocked the ship and sent other Heartless flying into the air.

"That should help down below." Sora said blocking a Pirates sword coming down on him.

 _There's still the other side, another one coming up behind you_

Pulling back, Sora smoothly guided the Pirates sword he was engaged with and pulled it into the Shadow coming up behind him and quickly destroyed the two before moving on. As he ran across the deck, the doors to the captains quarters blasted open and a large clawed hand reached out to grab him, only to meet air as Sora jumped through its fingers and move out of its reach. Unfortunately just as Sora reached the cannons on the Starboard side, they all fired off another barrage at the ground and he had to watch helplessly as a neighborhood down below was set ablaze to dark flame. An angry slice quickly disabled the cannons, if only he had done it sooner though….

 _We can't think about that now man, there still a lot to take care of on this ship_

" _Right."_

Turning back, the Heartless were starting to retake the deck in vast numbers, while others continued to jump off the sides to continue the assault below. He had taken out the majority of their attack power,

but now he had to figure out how he was going to take the whole thing down, but that would be a little difficult by himself. Looking to the bow of the ship he spotted the anchor locked in place. Running over, he slashed the lock and braced himself on the railing as he watched the anchor fall to the ground. The Heartless were slowly closing in on him when the ship, which had been gently moving forward in the sky, lurched to a sudden halt, tripping several of them up and casing a slight confusion amongst themselves.

"There's your rope! Now get your ass up here and help me!" Sora yelled over the railing.

Now it was only a matter of of holding out.

…

"HEY, OVER HERE!" Kairi yelled waving her arms trying to grab the Giant Heartless's attention with the Keyblade, "LOOK AT ME!"

Slowly the Giant turned back to her and began wading its way towards her. Regular hearts were enticing to a Heartless, but Keyblade wielder who was also a Princess of Heart would make any Heartless run for her. But now that she had its attention, she needed to think of a way to deal with it.

 _Any ideas?_ She thought to Namine

 _The terrain is mostly water so we can't attack it with brute force, we're gonna need to use magic. Would fire work on the wood?_

 _No it's too wet, but a Blizzard spell would freeze a lot of its body. That could get us enough time to get the rest of the boats filled_

 _And enough time to figure out a way to defeat it_

 _Lets not get to ahead of ourselves, I don't know if I can cast a powerful blizzard spell_

 _Don't worry about that, just make sure you cast a Blizzaga spell and I can take care of the rest_

Running down the beach, she kept pulling the Giant Heartless away from the docks, all the while slashing the smaller Heartless that were now starting to take notice of her as well. There were only a couple boats left, and it seemed that there weren't going to be anymore stragglers coming in unless they had turned Heartless. She knew that they only needed a little more time, but that wasn't going to be easy with all these smaller distractions as well as the big guy being a pain.

"Alright lets try this!" She yelled coming to a stop and pointing her Keyblade at the big guy as he reached for her, "BLIZZAGA!"

If someone where to have been watching Kairi as she cast this spell, they would have noticed that she looked off, as if her very being were splitting in two with one being her and the other being blonde. But that would be all anyone would see, because as they cast the spell the giant Heartless tried to grab them with one of his big hands only to be stopped midway as ice spread across the sand surrounding the girl. In that same moment her Keyblade had pierced its palm freezing it in solid ice and freezing more as the ice magic traveled up its arm and the better portion of its body.

Back inside the frozen grip of the Heartless, Kairi let go of the Keyblade and slumped back against the frozen fingers behind her breathing hard and trying to stay awake as her vision clouded. Around her the giant hand was frozen solid creating a strange shelter for the girl too tired to stand.

"That was more than I expected." she huffed.

 _Sorry about that,_ A tired sounding Namine said back, _I focused all of your magic energy into that one attack, but we didn't have that much magic to begin with so this took a lot out of both of us._

"Hopefully it was enough." Kairi said struggling back to her feet and yanking the Keyblade out of the palm. Walking carefully outside the hand, she saw that blizzaga spell had not only frozen the Heartless in place, but it had also frozen the sand and ocean in a forty foot (12 meter) radius. The Heartless itself was frozen all up its right arm along with its chest and the ocean around it, leaving only the head and the left arm free. It was thoroughly stuck along with any smaller Heartless caught in the freezing radius.

 _I'd say that's good enough_

Turning away, she struggled to make her way across the small ice field as she headed towards the docks where the last of the ships evacuating ships was waiting to fill the last of the evacuees. On the road leading to the docks, she could see Sora's parents fighting off the few Heartless that had decided against going after her. They were standing back to back as they fought, Sora's father fought expertly with an old IDF spear and his mother was a crack shot with the handgun she wielded and if any Heartless got to close, she slashed them with a combat knife. Kairi had known that Sora's parents used to be apart of the Island Defense Force, but she hadn't known that they had been as skilled as what she saw now. But there was no time to for gawking, so she quickly hustled over to them.

"Kairi!" Sora's father called to her as he speared the last Heartless and ran over to her, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little out of breathe." she sighed as both the adults fussed over her, checking her smaller wounds and making sure she was alright in every manner a parent could think of, "we should probably fall back to the boats, we need to make sure there's still one for Sora, and Riku when they get back."

"Will that Heartless stay frozen for long." they asked warily looking to the giant creature still struggling to break free to no avail.

"Hopefully long enough for them to get back in time."

…

"RIKU!" The girls cried out as they watched in horror as the shell of the Heartless collapsed in on itself, with all the houses and concrete with it sending out a giant dust cloud. With great effort, Riku's mother struggled over using a pipe as a crutch to the pile of rubble that showed through the dust cloud While Ferra could only watch helplessly from the porch where she sat.

Hurrying over, Riku's mother began to desperately throw rubble aside as she called out for her son repeatedly hoping a sign from him would appear. What little she could pull from the pile was quickly filled in by more rubble falling from above, but she kept pulling, all the while hoping that he was okay. She had just gotten him back, how could she lose him again.

"RIKU!" she called as she attempted to pull a larger slap of concrete aside only to fall back with the slab landing on top of her.

"Ms. Sara!" Ferra called from the porch seeing the women fall over, and began to crawl over as best she could over. It took several minutes for her make her way finally over to the older women who lay unmoving under the concrete slab and took her several more to finally push it off of her. Riku's mother seemed okay, but she looked as if she weren't quite there. "Are you okay?"

"….. No." She finally responded as she sat her self up and leaned against the rubble behind her, "And I won't until I get my boy out of there."

"But..." Ferra started looking at the pile beside them.

"I can't give up on him yet!" Riku's mother yelled at Ferra tears welling up in her eyes, "I can't just lose him again... I... he can't be gone."

It was then that a metal clanking could be heard from farther down the road, and when they looked up, they found a lone Soldier Heartless had seemingly wandered their way. It looked directly at the two of them, twitching and shaking unnervingly as they all did, and slowly began to advance on them. Riku's mother quickly took up the pipe she had been using to walk and readied herself as best she could, and Ferra picked up some of the stones around her and began chucking them at the Heartless.

"Go away!" she cried throwing as many rocks as she could to try and slow the creature down, unfortunately missing most throws, "Leave us alone!"

The Heartless continued to slowly advance on them, its red claws readied and its movements getting more and more sporadic as it prepared. But when it reached within five feet of them it suddenly stopped and turned its head away from them, instead looking towards the beach and then west towards the sky. It looked back at them as if contemplating its options, but then just ran off with no warning, leaving them again in solitude.

"That was odd." A weak voice said from behind the two ladies. Turning back, they saw that from atop the rubble where one of the still somewhat intact houses lay, the door was swung open and limping out came a very battered Riku.

"Riku!" his mother cried happily as he slowly came down dragging something behind him. Unfortunately a bit of the concrete slipped from under him and he came tumbling down landing hard on his back beside them.

"Ouch." he said wincing.

"Riku are you alright?" His mother said dragging herself over to him and keeping him from sitting up when he tried so he could check him for visible wounds.

"I feel like the witch that got crushed in the Wizard of Oz, but otherwise I'm alright." he said lying there and breathing a sigh as his mother continued to fuss.

"Oh my baby." she said choking up, "I was so worried I-I-I thought..."

Riku just laid there silently letting his mother have her moment, and looked to the sky. What had happened in the shell...that didn't matter now, he needed to get his mother and Ferra to safety. Sitting up, he struggled to his feet and made his way slowly over to the rubble and grabbed the thing he had been dragging down.

"I found this in the basement of that house." he said folding out a battered, but still functional wheelchair, in front of Ferra. She looked at it for a moment before laughing a little.

"You are one heck of a guy you know that?"

"I try my best."

…

Sora had just finished slashing another group of Pirate Heartless when a butchers cleaver went flying past his head and lodged itself into another Pirate that had been sneaking up behind him. Looking back to the railing, he saw a red face Cole crawl over and breathe heavily as he caught his breath. Pulling the cleaver out of the Heartless, Sora ran over to his friend.

"Good of you to join me finally." he said to Cole who grabbed the cleaver from him.

"Oh, huff, sorry some of us can't get up here as easily as others, hoooo, if only I could fly like some people." he said slowly.

"Yeah, well some people are luckier than others. But right now we need to take care of business."

"Gotcha."

Looking around them, the Heartless ship crew had regrouped and more were pouring out from the ships hold, now they all slowly began to surround the two warriors. Sora readied Two Become One, and Cole pulled out a meat hook from his belt of tools from the butcher shop. The two looked to each other, nodded, and ran towards the horde before them.

Sora yelled out, "LIGHT!", and transformed into his Limit form, his clothes changing to look like it had when he first ventured out, and began to attack the Heartless relentlessly. He slashed, bashed, crushed, and destroyed all Heartless in his path in a relentless string of attack that quickly cleared a path through the horde. Cole stuck close behind the fighting machine that was Sora, and kept his back clear from attacks, if any Heartless came to close, he would slash them with his cleaver, or he would catch them with the meat hook and toss them aside. Pirates and shadows felled before the two of them as the continued to fight forward, and yet more and more kept pooling up from below, but this did not daunt the two who focused on their fight now.

Once they reached the middle of the deck, they both stopped and turned back to back, to fight in place. They both fought bravely in place trying to hold their ground, the Horde hitting them repeatedly and endlessly, on and on they fought for a full hour and still their were more coming. They now both breathed hard, Sora's Limit form having ended long ago and magic having been long depleted as well, black ooze dripping from his Keyblade from fallen Heartless. Cole was in the same shape, his meat hook had long disappeared after being caught in a stronger and tossed aside, and his cleaver was now chipped and jagged from countless parries and constant use. Sora had gained a large cut that ran the length of his right arm, and a large black bruise formed under his left eye along with the other small wounds. Cole had lost his shirt from the barrage earlier and had cuts crossing his torso and arms, as well as a large slash along his left shoulder which still bled, and a cut above the eye that blinded him with blood dripping down.

"Well, I can't say I've been in a pinch like this for a long time." Sora huffed, spitting out a wad of blood, "and I've fought a thousand Heartless by myself."

"Really?" Cole cough/laughed incredulously, "You've been getting soft then. That or we've fought more than a thousand Heartless today."

"I can believe that!" Sora yelled kicking a Heartless away and slashing another that jumped him, "But I think we should end this soon, or we'll be done for."

"Any ideas?"

"Maybe, there was something that reached out of the captains cabin, but I didn't get a great look at it other than its hands. It might be worth a try."

"Cut the head off the snake...I can get along with that. It might end this."

"Then lets do it."

With a loud yell, Sora turned to his right and slashed the group of Heartless before him, making a small clearing for him and Cole to start through. It took some time, but they eventually reached the doors to the cabin and held their ground waiting for a moment. But nothing seemed to happen and they continued to battle against the crew.

"Nothings happening!" Cole yelled looking back for a brief moment, only to catch a fist from an Air Pirate.

"Well he seemed eager to get me earlier!" Sora yelled back.

"Grrr, hold them for a moment." Cole said falling back and running to the door, where he began banging on the door. "OI! Captain Shit Brains! Open Up!"

Nothing happened, and slowly Sora was forced to back away towards the door as the crew surrounded the two of them. Cole banged harder on the door, but when nothing happened still, he began putting his shoulder into the door trying his best to break it down. They were now surrounded and against the wall, without much hope, when finally the door gave way and Cole pulled Sora through.

"Alright now we….what?" Sora said looking in the room. It was empty. There was no sign of anything having been there, only smooth floors and black window on the back wall. "Where is he!?"

"Abandoned ship it seems." Cole said turning around and slamming the door closed, holding it as Heartless slammed into the other side, "Any bright ideas?"

Sora looked around, but nothing gave any clue where the Captain might have gone, and nothing seemed to come to mind. "Roxas?"

 _I can't see any better idea than escape_

"We can't do that!"

 _Then we're boned_

"Having fun talking to yourself over there." Cole yelled bracing again as the door slammed inwards from another Heartless attack.

"We can hold out in here, funnel the enemies, but other than that we're screwed."

"…..Well there is something that I might be able to do." Cole said looking down.

"Really! What!?"

"I have a bit of magic, and I might be able to use a spell I taught myself, but I can't do it holding this door."

"I got it!" Sora yelled, going to his friend and taking his place bracing against the door, "I'll open the door when you're ready!"

Walking to the middle of the room, Cole looked down to his right hand and gripped and released his hand several time before finally turning back to Sora.

"Hey, before I do this….I need you to know that….I just hope you know that I'm your friend."

"Yeah of course! But I think we should talk about our friendship another time!" Sora struggled to say against the door, his strength waning.

 _Sora I don't like what he's saying_ Roxas said warily

 _What do you mean?_

 _I'm getting red flags, I feel something coming from him. Something dark_

Looking back up, Sora watched Cole look away and take a deep breathe before he turned back to face him. And then he felt it, a dark energy much stronger than what was outside the door, something that he felt only when he fought stronger Heartless, but it was also a familiar energy though he couldn't think why. Cole's right arm slowly changed from the regular tan skin to a deep dark black that only Heartless could have, and it traveled all the way up his arm and across his shoulder and up his face. His right eye slowly changed to a deep black as well, and his iris glowed yellow.

"Forgive me." Cole said.

And before Sora could process what was happening, Cole appeared before him with a burst of speed and shoved his black clawed hand into his chest. Sora choked, the icy hand was reaching for something within him, it was almost like when he released Kairi's heart from his own, but more painful. Cole was right in his face and he seemed to be saying something, but he couldn't quite make it out, his black eye stared right into the depths of his own not letting him look away. He then Roxas cry out in pain as well within him, and he himself was finally able to let out a cry. Cole's words finally reached through to him as he himself let out another yell of pain.

"It is through the light that we returned from Darkness, we who overpowered it and in turn controlled it! We shall not fall back to that once dreary place, but instead rule over it and those who would come from it! We are the pawns who became kings, the ones destroy the order of all things, to overthrow what once overpowered us! We are the one reborn from Darkness, we are Darkborn!"

With his final words, Sora felt his hand grip his heart and the pain he felt before was increased tenfold. He cried out in pain and screamed out trying to escape his hold. But it was wrong, his cries were mixed with Roxas's own and they fluidly mixed in sync together. He could feel something else through the pain, that same familiar presence he had sensed before. A Darkness. His other self.

Anti

…

Riku breathed a sigh of relief they finally reached the last road that would head towards the docks and get them to safety. He was incredibly tired from his battles and having survived being crushed, but he pressed on knowing he needed to get his mom and Ferra to safety. And now they were closer to that goal.

"Just around the corner and we should be there soon." His mother said happily as she continued to slowly.

"Hopefully Sora and Kairi are okay as well." Riku sighed.

When they finally rounded the corner, they were surprised by what lay out before them. First and foremost was the giant Heartless that stood half frozen in the ocean, its form still struggling to break free, then there was the mass of another group of Heartless frozen nearby as well. The docks seemed to be fairly empty thankfully, most of the people that had come this way must have gotten to a boat and gotten to safety. There was at least two boats still waiting at the docks, and as Riku squinted, he saw Kairi standing with Sora's Parents by one them.

"I think they're just waiting for us." Riku said pushing Ferra forward.

As they drew closer, Kairi seemed to notice them and ran towards them, meeting them halfway.

"Riku!" she cried happily, only to gasp when she saw the wounds that they had all sustained. "are you guys okay!? You look like hell!"

"We're fine." he said with a wheeze. Kairi seemed to be fairly okay, she seemed to lack any major injury, but it seemed she had fought hard as well. "If you could help my mom out, we can get to the boats a little faster."

"Right." she said going over to his mom and helping her take some weight off her wounded leg.

It took some time, but they made it over to the boats where Sora parents and Riku's father were waiting. When Riku's father got sight of them, he promptly jumped out of his boat and ran full speed towards them.

"My god Sara, Riku!" he said embracing his wife and looking over his son, "I should have been there to help you!"

"No it's fine dad." he sighed, "We need to get going though. Are we ready?"

"We're still waiting for Sora." Kairi said looking back towards the town, "he hasn't come back yet."

"We'll just have to give him more time then." Riku said.

A loud cracking sound suddenly sounded to their left and to their dismay the giant Heartless seemed to be breaking itself free from its icy prison. Riku's father quickly picked his wife up and carried her to the boats and Riku handed Ferra off to Sora's parents. Drawing his way to down, he stood next to Kairi who had her Keyblade drawn as well.

"This guy give you much trouble?" he asked

"He….yeah." she said quietly, a strange sadness in her voice.

But they had no time for more thought as the Heartless finally broke free, large chunks of ice flying and crashing into the sea and one even crushing into the boards near them. It turned towards them slowly, and if a Heartless could look angry, this one had a fierce fire in its eyes for redemption. It then began to make its way towards them and readied for an attack.

"Ready!?"Riku asked Kairi.

"Ready!" she yelled.

But just as they were about to begin their assault on the creature, there was a loud explosion that knocked them all to their feet and even sent the giant Heartless a couple steps back. Everyone looked around confused as they tried looked back to the town where the explosion seemed to come, and then another explosion boomed again, this time they could tell it came from the sky. From out of the plumes of smoke that rose from their burning town, about 100 feet in the air a giant ship came bursting out. It was obviously a Heartless ship, but it seemed to be in bad shape, one of its masts was broken and hanging from the side and a better portion of the ship seemed to be ablaze, a massive chain that must have been to its anchor swung freely about missing its large attachment. The ship was falling fast, Heartless were jumping from the ship in an attempt to escape, but many were on fire and ended up setting their cohorts on fire as well. The flying ship veered without out control, and was headed right towards them, but suddenly shifted left and sped towards the giant Heartless who couldn't defend itself in time. With a might crash a bright explosive light erupted as the two connected blinding everyone and sending them all flying back.

…

 **A/N: And that is where I will leave you all off at. What a chapter, there was so much stuff and other stuff. I hope to post another chapter in due time, but hopefully this will get you all by for awhile. Plus who else is excited for the upcoming KH 2.8, cuz I am. As always leave a comment and let me know what you all think, if there's anything I should fix. Remember to tell your friends, and as always see ya next chapter.**


	14. Recovery

**A/N:** Hello all and welcome to another chapter. We hit an awesome milestone by hitting 50,000 words last chapter. That's nothing compared to some other stories, but it's a good start. Here's to hoping for another 50,000.

…

(4 days after the battle)

Riku sat on crate next to his father as they both stared out at the sea, his father smoking cigarette as they watched the waves lap against the shore in the afternoon light. They said nothing, they both hadn't felt like talking after everything that had happened the past few days, there were enough people doing plenty of that. The moans of pain and woes of sorrow could be heard as the evacuees settled into their temporary home for the moment, a remote empty island several miles to the east of Destiny Islands, a fallback just in case pirates raided the island and decided to stay. There were thankfully supplies and rations to last them quite awhile and the IDF on the Hope Islands had been contacted and were en route, but that didn't mean they were clear of danger yet.

There was also Sora….

"I should probably get back to the others," Riku sighed as he got up, "we're gonna make a run to the Island and see if things there have calmed down."

His father didn't look back, only gave him a grunt of acknowledgment knowing full well that his son was somebody that could look out for himself, and continued to look out to the sea. Currently everyone that had made it to the retreat Island had set up a tent city, made up from reserve tent on the Island and made from the sails of the boats that had brought them here. Walking along the beach, Riku passed by several of these tents, most people he passed either waved to him friendly or kept to their own needs and ignored him. There hadn't been too many people questioning what the he and his friends had done to save them, the better part of the people were actually quite thankful, though there were a few who looked shamed whenever he walked by. Turning he walked inwards to the center of the Island passed many more tents and headed towards the one building that had been constructed on the Island.

A small shack sat in the very center of the Island, ramshackle at first glance, but hiding inside their actually resided a very large underground compound that stored food, medicine, and other supplies, as well as a place for the IDF and mayor to run things in the case of retreat.

Walking towards the door, he nodded to the two guards who stood outside and walked inside, down the ladder and into the bustling busy room filled. When their home had been attacked, the Island Defense Force had done their best to fight back against the Heartless, unfortunately they weren't well prepared to face off against the Darkness and many had fallen. The few that had made it were now working to guard their current home, to make sure that some form of law was kept, and also to help the mayor below the shack. Walking by busy people, he caught glimpse of his old teacher Mr. Mason, who had rejoined the IDF after prior events and had taken charge to keep things running, Sora's parents had also returned to duty as well, mostly to keep their minds busy.

He finally reached the back room where the Mayor was currently discussing plans for when the ships from the Hope Islands came with an IDF soldier, momentarily pausing when he saw Riku enter, before he finished his conversation dismissing the soldier. He looked tired behind the desk, emphasized by the sigh he let out when the soldier exited the room, and looked like he hadn't slept since the evacuation, which could be true.

"Hello Riku, are you here to see them?" he said pushing away from the desk and coming over to him.

"Yes sir." he said closing the door behind him, "We had planned on going back to the Island today to see if there were any survivors, and to try and grab some specific medicine some people left behind."

"I see."

Turning around the Mayor walked over to one of the bookshelves on the sidewall and pulled one of the books slightly out when it gave a small click and a false wall panel was revealed a hidden door. The two quickly made their way in before slowly closing the door behind them. The room they stood in now was where the mayor was meant to sleep, a small bed and side tabled pushed into the corner with a single light bulb swinging lazily above. Sitting next to the bed, Kairi sat snoozing with her head propped against the wall, and leaning in the corner whittling some driftwood was Cole.

And lying in the bed, shirt pulled open revealing a smoking claw print on his chest, slept Sora.

…

(flashback to 4 days prior)

A huge explosion sent all of them onto their backs as the force of the blast went all around them, and the brightness and noise blinding and deafening them all. Riku struggled to stand up, his previous wounds still bothering him now topped with the dizziness from the explosion and the loud ringing in his ears. Finally managing to get to his feet, he shook his head trying rid himself of the swimming in his vision, looking up he found the space where the two Heartless had been was now empty space. Looking back down he saw Kairi unconscious on the ground a small trickle of blood leaking out of her ear, but otherwise unharmed, and next to him in the boats his and Sora's parents were struggling to their feet as well.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-ugh." Riku finally heard as the ringing in his ears faded replaced by the sound of people groaning around him and the sound of the ocean rushing back from the explosion. Bending down, he picked up Kairi and carried her over to the boats and gently laid her down along one of the seats and went about helping everyone else who had fallen as well.

"What was that?" Sora's father asked coming over and checking on the two of them.

"Seems like we got saved, but I don't what caused that to happen." Riku said looking back to the beach. A more in depth look at the area showed that where the explosion happened, there was now a giant crater where sand and water were promptly filling up, bit of driftwood and ice falling to the ground below. "maybe Sora. . ."

"Sora?" a groggy Kairi said slowly sitting up and rubbing her head.

Riku quickly turned back to her, "Hey lay back down."

"But Sora, I swear I saw him."

"Where did you see him?" Sora's mother asked coming over and taking a knee next to the girl.

"From the ship." she said looking back to the crater, "I swear I saw him jump from the ship with someone else."

Suddenly a cry of help resounded through the air surprising everyone causing them all to jump to their feet. A burst of air could be heard as something breached the surface of the water nearby, and looking over the port side side the could see two heads bob out of the water one gasping for air and the other lying still.

"Help!" the voice called out again, before the two dipped below the water again.

A swiftly as he could, Riku hopped overboard and swam out to the slowly drowning figures as bubbles continued to rise from where they sank. Diving below he looked around his eyes burning from the salt water, but thankfully found the two figures and swam to them, grabbing both and kicking to the surface. Breaching the surface, the still moving figure gasped for air and coughed out water from his lungs. It turned out to be Cole.

"Thanks man." Cole said weakly. He looked like he had been through the ringer, multiple cuts crisscrossed all over his body and the water took on a red tint around him where the blood leaked from his wounds. The person next to him was Sora who was currently unconscious, but seemed to have not taken in any water, though he seemed to be in an equally damaged state as Cole. Pulling them over to the boats, Sora's father promptly lifted his son out of the water along with Riku and Cole, and began to check over Sora.

"He seems okay." Sora's father said laying his head against his son's head to listen for a heart beat, before yelping in pain suddenly, "what the hell."

"Don't touch his chest!" Cole said pulling himself over to them. Reaching over, he pulled Sora's shirt up and took a look to find a wisp of black smoke leak out from under, "He took a pretty bad hit."

"What in the worlds." Riku said leaning down, "what happened… actually what were you doing with Sora on that ship."

"Long story." Cole said letting go of Sora's shirt, "I can explain later, but we should probably skedadle on out of here. Plus I think I have internal bleeding." and then he passed out as well.

….

(flashback 2 days later)

"So you're telling me that you knew about us from the moment you saw us." Riku said pacing in front of Cole who was laid out on a bed with bandages covering the better portion of his upper body. Kairi stood next to him casting a healing spell on the boy trying to speed his healing the best she could with the magic she had spared from all the other work she'd done. Cole had passed out when the boat took off from the Island and had been recovering from his wounds while Riku and Kairi were busy making sure everyone was set up on their temporary home. Only now did he wake up and answer their much awaited questions.

"I told Sora everything the morning you met us in the diner Kairi." Cole said, sighing in relief as the healing magic washed over him, "he happened by me that morning and we fought a Heartless that appeared. After that I told him my story and I promised I would keep your secret safe. It seems you took care of that though."

"And why would should we trust you on that." Riku growled angrily summoning his Keyblade.

"Look man, if I wanted to end you guys, why would I help Sora!" Cole tried getting up, but quickly fell back in pain, "I don't know what you want me to say to convince you, but I am on your side alright."

Riku still felt angry, but there was some truth in his words, and he wasn't going to get any straight answers from being angry. Kairi was still healing Cole, seemingly lost in a trance thought, ignoring their bickering and keeping her thoughts on helping out the one person who could tell them something about what happened.

"Then tell me Cole." Kairi said drawing his attention to her, "what did happen to Sora, why does he have that mark on his chest?"

He stared at the ceiling a couple moments, pondering her question before he answered. "When shit hit the fan, I ran into Sora with Mason, we sent him on his way and I helped him save people as best I could. When that ship showed up, he went on ahead and battled up there while I tried to figure a way up and when I did, we ended up battling endless amounts of Heartless. At some point, he suddenly turned into . . . something dark and wrecked the ship. After that you know the rest."

"You're absolutely sure he turned into this dark creature?" Riku asked curiously.

"Absolutely, I got a pretty good look at it when it started attacking me as well." he said pointing to a freshly stitched scar across his shoulder, "he did more damage to me than the Heartless."

Riku and Kairi looked at each other worried. Sora had told them about Anti, his Heartless half which showed up from time to time, and how he'd had little to no control over the dark being. Riku had wondered if it would be a problem, but the issue didn't seem to be major and some part of him hoped it would just vanish while they lived peacefully. Obviously that didn't seem to be the case.

…

(Present)

"Are you guys ready to go?" Riku asked.

"I'm good, but I'll let you wake the princess up." Cole said pocketing the knife and driftwood, "I'll go get the boat set." and walked out of the room.

Walking over to Kairi, he gently nudged her out of her sleep.

"Wake up. We gotta go."

"Ugh." Kairi groaned as her eyes fluttered open. There were dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her hair was a mess of tangles and puffed up from the humid air. "is it time to go already."

"Yeah, don't worry, you can sleep on the way their."

Kairi nodded and got up, stretching herself out before picking up her pack and walking over to Sora, giving him a kiss on the forehead and walking out the door with Riku in tow.

…

They found Cole waiting for them in the boat they had acquired for their mission, along with two IDF soldiers who would accompany them for the trip and help as needed. They seemed like a strange unit, three teens and two adults dressed in IDF uniforms. After everything had happened, their own clothes had ended up in tatters and was in major need of repair, so for the moment they were all dressed in IDF issued combat boots, pants, and a white shirt as the jackets were for official personnel.

"Good to go." one of the soldiers asked.

"Yep." Riku said hopping in.

"You know the mission?"

"Go home, scout the Island, gather supplies, and find out why the King never showed up."

…

Back in the underground compound, one wouldn't think it, but currently there was a battle being waged. A battle of epic proportions that had lasted four straight days non stop, between three individuals with the power that could destroy the very Island they sat on now. But it was hidden from everyone's eyes, no it was something nobody else was allowed to see until the victor came out on top. In the farthest corner of the compound, hidden in a back room, lying on a bed was Sora. And he was fighting for his Heart.

…

 **A/N: well guys I'm cutting it a little short today, but I promise you that you're gonna get a doozy of a chapter next time...I think. It should be good, hopefully my writing skills will be up to the task. As always let me know what you think and what you're feeling and I'll see ya next chapter.**


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